Brijesh Damani clinches CCI Snooker title

Brijesh Damani of Indian Oil emerged triumphant, defeating Sourav Kothari of ONGC by a stunning 7-1 margin, in a best-of-13 frame final of the Rs 12.25 lakh prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2018. The event played out at the CCI’s Wilson Jones Billiards Room on Sunday evening.

Damani’s efforts earned him a whopping win of Rs 2 lakh and the handsome CCI Snooker Trophy, along with a fine crystal trophy. A jaded Kothari had to be satisfied with the runner-up cash award of Rs 1.30 lakh, while the losing semi-finalists, Kamal Chawla and Aditya Mehta, both took home a purse of Rs 75,000 each.

The Indian Oil cueist did not have to produce anything exceptional to seal his win, as Kothari seemed tense and was unable to find his rhythm. As a result, Damani played steadily and potted consistently. He was also the more ambitious of the two PSPP players, as he boldly attempted some long and difficult shots, and succeeded with those pots. These subsequently played a big role in his
victory.

“It’s great to win. I am not surprised to have won so comfortably. Sometimes it so happens that your opponent has a bad day. Sourav is a formidable opponent, who has great qualities. But I decided to stick to my game and I think it was my consistent performance that helped me come through,” a pleased Damani said after the win. “I had defeated Kothari by a similar 6-1 margin in a tournament in Kolkata in 2015,” he further stated.

Kothari made a positive start and made two small efforts of 19 and 21 to lead 48-25, but missed a simple last red in the centre pocket. Damani grabbed the chance, as he potted the final red and followed it up with the brown, before clearing the balls from the table to compile a run of 35 to snatch the first frame, which was the beginning of his charge to success. In the second, Damani rattled in efforts of 33 and 53, to close out the frame and take a 2-0.

The third frame was virtually a cat and mouse affair, as Kothari was more intent on safety play. In the process, he missed some sitters and also gave away a lot of penalty points, which in turn helped Damani win the third to increase his advantage to 3-0. Damani trailed in the fourth, but won the frame on the black to further stretch his lead. He continued his surge by coming from behind to also pocket the fifth.

Kothari raised hopes of a fight back, as he managed a break of 43 to finally get on the scoreboard winning the sixth frame just before the break.

However, on resuming, Damani won the next two frames to wrap up the match, winning at (57 (break 35) -48, 86 (33, 53) -6, 57-8, 55-51, 65-54, 5-79 (43), 75-20, 72-2).