Chennai, July 17 (Inditop.com) Aditya Mehta of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board justified his reputation as the hottest young talent in India when he vanquished seasoned Yasin Merchant 6-2 in the final of the Madras Gymkhana Club’s All-India invitational snooker tournament here Friday.
The 23-year old Mehta from Mumbai, who has been improving with each outing and especially after a stint on the professional circuit last season, was in imperious form and deservingly pocketed Rs.1.4 lakh, the highest prize-money in Indian snooker.
For the 42-year-old Merchant, the twice Asian and three times National champion, it was a sorry end to an otherwise fine tournament during which he made two century breaks, but was far too inconsistent in the final and the runner-up cheque of Rs.80,000 was small consolation.
“Every shot that he played today was just remarkable and I am not disappointed as I lost to a better player,” said Merchant, also from Mumbai.
Mehta was a relieved man after breaking his jinx in the finals.
“Merchant has always been our inspiration for what he has achieved in snooker and a great achievement to beat him today. He was supportive when I had lost to him last year in a final and said that my time will come. I am very happy that I broke a jinx of losing the previous six finals,” said Mehta.
The match had a gripping start with Merchant taking the first frame on the black before Mehta got into his stride to take the next four aided by the century break and a brilliant run of 56 in the fifth for a 4-1 advantage.
The century break saw Mehta in full flow as he picked his way through the reds some of which were bunched around the black.
Exercising tremendous control, he released the reds to keep the break going. The last two reds, in particular, required a degree of accuracy and cue-ball control, both of which Mehta had in abundance.
The break finally ended when, after taking the last black and eyeing the maximum of 138 with only colours left, Mehta got snookered on the yellow with the cue-ball rolling behind the blue.
Merchant returned after a 30-minute break to win the sixth frame on the back of a run of 58 to reduce the leeway.
However, he was unable to take advantage of an opening in the seventh frame when Mehta played a poor safety shot that left his opponent on. Merchant crafted a 31 and a 21 for a 52-0 lead.
At this stage, a miss on the red presented Mehta an opening and the youngster went on to make 46 and then take the frame after Merchant gifted the final red in the centre pocket. Mehta cleared to pink to go 5-2 up.
Mehta effectively ended Merchant’s challenge with a run of 43 at the start of the eighth frame. Merchant did have a chance to bounce back, but a miss on the black proved costly with Mehta swiftly making a 21 break to seal the issue.
MS Arun of Bangalore took home Rs.20,000 for the highest break (137) of the tournament while the losing semi-finalists, Sourav Kothari and Manan Chandra received Rs.25,000 apiece.
Former Davis Cup captain Ramesh Krishnan was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.
The results (final):
Aditya Mehta (PSPB) beat Yasin Merchant 6-2 (62-69, 59-01, 69-40, 111-00, 58-14, 12-80, 70-52, 72-13).