Ludhiana (Punjab): Green baize baron Pankaj Advani played the big points well under pressure to edge out a fighting Pushpender Singh for a memorable double in his maiden pool Nationals at the Rotary Bhawan here on Saturday.
In the men’s final of the 10-ball pool event, where fortunes fluctuated like a pendulum, PSPB’s Advani had to score a come-from-behind 11-9 win over his RSPB rival.
A little later at the adjacent table, fellow Bengalurean Chitra Magimairaj rallied splendidly to overcome Neena Praveen of Tamil Nadu 6-4 in the women’s final to complete an impressive double.
The men’s final was a match of small margins. Although Pushpender got off the blocks in a rousing manner, Advani, who annexed the 9-ball title a few days ago, fought back in splendid fashion to draw level at 3-3 in the race-to-11 affair.
The title clash turned decisively in favour of Advani -- who was playing catch-up for the best part of the finale -- in the 16th rack. Pushpender seemed on course to make a break and run (read clearance), but missed a regulation pot of No. 8 to let Advani draw level.
Advani punished another error from Pushpender, who hardly put a foot wrong for the better part, in the next rack to go up for the first time in the final at 9-8. A poor Pushpender break in the 18th rack allowed Advani to go up 10-8.
Pushpender then made a brilliant rack and run when Advani failed to pot a ball off his break in the next. In the 20th rack, the RSPB cueist made a couple of brilliant recovery shots before he snookered himself after taking No. 7 to the bottom right-hand pocket. Advani then potted the remaining balls to walk away with the title.
In the women’s final, Chitra took a 5-3 lead in the race-to-6 title clash. Neena reduced the margin by taking the ninth, and the Chennai cueist looked set to draw level. Unfortunately, she missed a simple No. 8 pot to the centre pocket and covered her race in disappointment at frittering away a chance to take the match to the decider. The calm and composed Chitra closed out the rack and match without much ado.
Results (10-ball pool): Men: Final: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Pushpender Singh (RSPB) 11-9.
Third-place playoff: Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) bt Aayush Kumar (Pun) 5-4.
Semis: Advani bt Shahbaaz 9-4; Pushpender bt Aayush 9-5.
Women: Final: Chitra Magimairaj (Kar) bt Neena Praveen (TN) 6-4.
Third-place playoff: Natasha Chethan (Kar) bt Anupama Ramachandran (TN) 4-3.
Semis: Chitra bt Natasha 6-3; Neena bt Anupama 6-5.
