Avinash Kumar wins the National Junior Snooker title

In the round-robin league of the top four cueists at the BRC Gloster National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2015, Avinash won all the three matches to seal the top spot, leaving his competitors to vie for the second, third and fourth places.

At the end, Hritik Jain of Madhya Pradesh, S. Shrikrishna of Tamil Nadu and M.L. Laxman of Karnataka, all of whom won one match each, took the other honours. This is the first title that Avinash has won in his playing career.

Twenty-year-old Avinash left the cue sports fraternity dazed with a clinical display of potting skills and an unflappable temperament to shut out S. Shrikrishna, who squandered his chances in the last and final encounter to win the match 4-1 (11-72, 71-20, 70-40, 70-30, 59-03).

In the other matches in the round robin, Avinash beat M.L. Laxman 4-1 with scores of 67-57, 77-00, 68-43, 49-67, 62-56. Avinash won 4-2 against Hritik Jain, with the scoreline reading 01-63, 77-34, 45-57, 72-27, 69-31, 61-51.

SENIOR BILLIARDS

The Senior Billiards – Mains begin tomorrow [Monday], with Sourav Kothari mounting his title defence in a strong field comprising 12-time World Billiards and Snooker Champion Pankaj Advani; Rupesh Shah, Devendra Joshi, Ashok Shandilya, Dhruv Sitwala and Brijesh Damani. Chandu Kansodaria of Maharashtra, and Neeraj Kumar and Nikhil Ghadge of Railways are the qualifiers for the Senior Billiards – Mains.

SCORES

Avinash Kumar bt Hritik Jain 4-2

01-63, 77-34, 45-57, 72-27, 69-31, 61-51

S. Shrikrishna bt M.L. Laxman 4-1

73-21, 73-48, 27-72, 59-10, 61-52

Avinash Kumar bt S. Shrikrishna 4-1

11-72, 71-20, 70-40, 70-30, 59-03

Avinash Kumar bt M.L. Laxman 4-1

67-57, 77-00, 68-43, 49-67, 62-56

Hritik Jain bt S. Shrikrishna 4-1

63-35, 18-64, 64-12, 76-35, 52-23

M.L. Laxman bt Hritik Jain 4-3

43-78, 16-78, 53-67, 69-22, 60-26, 76-25, 75-39