Tamil Nadu’s Rahul Williams put the disappointments of losing two finals behind him with a gritty show on way to his maiden junior boys’ billiards title at the National Championships in Bahadurgarh, Haryana, late on Saturday evening.
Williams emerged triumphant on the basis of a superior points average following a three-way tie in the semifinal league. The 14-year-old Coimbatore lad, who defeated Rohan Pai of Maharashtra and Bhavya Pipaliya of Gujarat, went down to Karnataka’s Mayank Karthik. Williams, Pai and Karthik finished with two wins and a loss apiece in the four-player league.
Williams had earlier suffered twin defeats to Aarav Sancheti in the junior snooker and sub-junior billiards finals from a winning position. The Tamil Nadu cueist not only avenged those two losses with a comfortable win over Sancheti in the quarterfinals of the junior billiards competition but also denied his rival’s quadruple hopes.
In the sub-junior girls’ section on Sunday, Tamil Nadu cueists Padmakshe C and Afeefa Thabassam won a title each. While Padmakshe won the snooker crown with a 3-2 win over Afeefa, the latter put it past Padmakshe 80-63 in the billiards final.
Telangana’s Leisha downs Mokshita for third place
Leisha Reddy of Telangana defeated state-mate Mokshita Balasaria 109-58 to win the third-place playoff.
Results: Junior boys: Billiards (semifinal league): Rahul Williams (TN) beat Rohan Pai (Mah) 411-227; beat Bhavya Pipaliya (Guj) 480-167; lost to Mayank Karthik (Kar) 224-236; Pai beat Pipaliya 521-204; beat Karthik 410-254; Karthik beat Pipaliya 277-175.
Final standings: 1. Rahul Williams; 2. Rohan Pai; 3. Mayank Karthik; 4. Bhavya Pipaliya.
Sub-junior girls: Snooker (final): Padmakshe C (TN) beat Afeefa Thabassam (TN) 3-2 (33-67, 57-21, 49-12, 38-68, 78-76).
Third-place playoff: Adhvika S (TN) beat Dhuvani K (TN) 2-0 (52-7, 47-24).
Semifinals: Padmakshe beat Advika 2-1 (44-37, 22-26, 57-35); Afeefa beat Dhuvani 2-0 (47-27, 77-25).
Billiards (final): Afeefa Thabassam (TN) beat Padmakshe C (TN) 80-63.
Third-place playoff: Leisha Reddy (Tel) beat Mokshita Balasaria (Tel) 109-58.
Semifinals: Padmakshe beat Mokshita Balasaria (Tel) 98-54; Afeefa beat Leisha Reddy (Tel) 104-85.
