Shobit celebrates a cool Sunday with snooker title
STATE TOURNEY Moradabad’s player outplays local challenger Qasim 4-0
It was almost a full house in the final of the UP Open Handicap Snooker Tournament being organized by Lucknow Cue Sports Association at the Green Baize on a cool Sunday.
A few noted veteran cueists too had fixed their eyes on the proceedings in the middle here. A power glitch delayed the final for over an hour though, this didn’t make a difference to young Shobit Chandra from Moradabad, who outplayed local challenger Qasim Zaidi of Panthers Pool Parlour in style 4-0.
Qasim, who had reached the final, having won some tough matches and beaten some top players, appeared cluless to Shobit’s attacking play.
The first frame was the only time throughout the match where Qasim had led. At one point in the first frame the score board read 50-1 in favor of Qasim, but Shobit didn’t give up. With small breaks of 20s he managed not only to catch up but also win the frame.
This was the point where Qasim was broken and Shobit took no pity as he continued his winning spree. By the fourth frame Qasim had become so demoralized that with four reds and enough points on the table to win he still choose to surrender giving Shobit 4-0 victory.
Earlier, in the semi finals, Shobit Chandra defeated Taran Agarwal (Scr) 3-0, and Larig (+24) went down fighting to Qasim 2-3. In the first semi-final, Taran seemed totally off-colour while his opponent Shobit was in brilliant form. Under these circumstances nothing but a one sided match could take place and that was exactly what happened.
But on the other table, it turned out to be altogether a different ball game. Larig (+24) being down 2-0 brought the match score to 2-2 as Qasim (+16) lost two on a trot. In decider at blue ball Larig led by 17 with 18 on the table. Qasim got a chance on blue in the center pocket as Larib mis-played a safety. Qasim by playing soft and slow shots not allowing the tension of the situation to affect his body potted the blue, pink and the black to win a birth in the final.
Lucknow Cue Sports Association’s secretary Tanuj Kohli gave away the prizes. Shobhit Chandra was given a special trophy for notching up the biggest break of 67 in the tournament, whereas Kanpur’s Utkarsh Chauhan was adjudged most promising player of the tournament.