Maharashtra’s Aarav Sancheti rallied from the brink to register a 4-3 win over Rahul Williams of Tamil Nadu for his maiden junior boys’ snooker title at the National Championships in Bahadurgarh in Haryana late on Wednesday evening.
Down and out for the count at 1-3 in the best-of-seven-frame title clash, the 15-year-old Pune cueist took a short break and returned rejuvenated, and with a different gameplan.
Sancheti didn’t go for broke like he did in the earlier frames, he began to play a percentage game. He kept Williams on a tight leash, and with the freebies having dried up, the Tamil Nadu cueist began to err.
Sancheti grabbed the chances that came his way and resorted to safety whenever he lost position. That ploy seemed to work as he began to call the shots thereafter and won the next three frames, and the title, in a canter.
Williams will, however, get a chance to avenge that defeat when the two cueists meet in the final of the sub-junior billiards.
Sancheti, the defending champion, known more for his prowess in snooker, defeated Karnataka’s Mohammed Mustafa 242-168 in the semifinals. Williams downed Vaibhav Chadha of Telangana 192-109 in the other semifinal.
Results (snooker): Junior boys (final): Aarav Sancheti (Mah) beat Rahul Williams (TN) 4-3 (69-75, 90-28, 56-59, 11-66, 82-25, 61-10, 59-28).
Third-place playoff: Jabez Naveen Kumar (TN) beat A Abdul Saif (TN) 2-0 (80-13, 90 (57) -22).
Billiards (sub-junior, semifinals): Aarav Sancheti (Mah) beat Mohammed Mustafa (Kar) 242-168; Rahul Williams (TN) beat Vaibhav Chadha (Tel) 192-109.
