Fazal cues to his maiden title

By M. Shamil Amit

M.L.M. Fazal on his way in the afternoon session. ( Picture by Ranjith Perera)

MSC’s M.L.M, Fazal son of Sri Lanka’s first ever world title winner the late M.J.M. Lafir cruised through to a nine frames to three win over veteran and five times national snooker champion Henry Boteju in the final of the 54th Snooker Nationals concluded at the Billiards and Snooker Association (BSASL) headquarters billiards tables in Reid Avenue yesterday.

The champion having come into the game as the underdog due to the fact of being beaten by his opponent a few months back showed that this time he was a hard nut to crack.

The two players were locked at two frames each at the end of first session of play. The evening sessions play saw Fazal going into the lead by winning the first two frames to make it 4-2 in the 11 frame encounter, which put the pressure on the experience veteran Boteju.

Though Boteju came back to win the seventh frame the new champion did not get ruffled as he bounced back to record easy wins in the eighth and nine frame which was sufficient for him to clinch the title for the first time in his career. The final was controlled by chief referee Z.A.M. Fawmy.

Meanwhile the play off for the third place was conducted in the afternoon which was fought between S.H.M. Aslam of MSC and Nimal de Silva of Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya. The five frame decider was easily won by Aslam by three frames to nil with scores of 57-33, 57-53 and 52-10.

The winner of the national Fazal booked the U.W. Sumathipala Memorial trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 25,000/- with the runner up receiving a cash prize of Rs. 15,000/- at the grand award ceremony planned to be held later on.

Results:

M.L.M. Fazal (MSC) beat Henry Boteju 6/3 (17/57, 50/09, 58/48, 59/91, 66/16, 52/19, 52/59, 77/32, 56/24). S.H.M. Aslam (MSC beat Nimal de Silva (Grand Hotel N’Eliya) 3/0 (57/33, 57/53, 52/10)