Susantha clinches title for the 16th time

Defending national snooker champion Susantha Boteju of YMCA clinched the national title for the 16th time when he defeated Ryan Somaratna of Otters AC 7-6 in the thrilling 13 frames finale played at the Billiard and Snooker Association headquarters table at the Sugathadasa Hotel in Colombo yesterday,

The 13 frame final which played in two sessions was heading to be a thriller after the completion of the morning session with the two cueists sharing three frames each. It was a ding-dong battle with both

FINAL RESULT

of them not giving in to each other.

Susantha who came in as the hot favourite when the tournament commenced two weeks ago underwent some anxious moments in the semi-final encounter where he was made to fight hard for his win in the 11 frame which he scraped through by six frames to five.

However the second session of the final was also going to be a thrilling session and it turned to be as the less experienced Ryan gave the 15 time winner a torrid time which saw the finale going to the wire with Susantha ultimately being in the final frame where he came out victorious with a final match winning frame score of 6110.

Earlier in the battle for the third place between team mates M. Rimzan and M.M. Mubeen (both of Army) saw the former prevailing by two frames to one in the three frame encounter.