Boteju clinches national snooker title for 17th time
Defending champion Susantha Boteju of YMCA clinched the National Snooker title for the 17th time with a convincing seven frames to two win over M.M. Mubeen of Sri Lanka Army in the 13-frame final of the 62nd National Snooker Championship worked off at the Billiards and Snooker Association headquarters at the Sugathadasa Hotel in Colombo yesterday.
M.M. Mubeen
Mubeen who is playing in his first ever snooker national final was expected to give the defending champion a close fight, but Boteju left little room for his opponent to raise his head.
Boteju was in terrific form as he began the campaign to clinch his 17th snooker title in style and rattled Mubeen by taking a 5-1 lead at the end of the first session. In two of the frames won he conceded only a single point to Mubeen and also chalked up a fifth frame win of 108/35.
In the process he also chalked up a break of 100 in the same frame which was his second century break of the championship. In earlier frames he had two breaks of over 50 in the first and third frames.
Mubeen was able to win only the sixth frame before the morning session was stopped for the lunch break and then he was able to win only another frame in the post lunch session as Boteju cruised to victory by winning the eighth and ninth frames.
Boteju first won the national snooker title in 1996 and retained it for six years until 2001. He lost the title to Naresh Samarawickrama in 2002 but bounced back to regain the title in 2003 which he retained for four years up to 2006.
Susantha Boteju
Boteju did not participate in the 2007 national snooker championship but returned in 2008 and since then has been the title winner until 2013.
Meanwhile the executive committee of the Billiards and Snooker Association has decided to appoint a foreign coach which has been entrusted to Mike Russell of England.
Russell is a former World Billiards Champion who has won the world title on 12 occasions. The decision was announced after the first session of national snooker final at a press conference held at the Billiards and Snooker Association headquarters yesterday.
The 62nd National Snooker Championship conducted by the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka is sponsored by U.W. Sumathipala Group.
Final Result: Susantha Boteju (YMCA) beat M.M. Mubeen (Army) 7-2 (69/01, 89/43, 88/01, 63/24, 108/35, 36/57, 48/75, 79/67, 73/20).