| Sports |
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Nine Ball National Championship
Susantha clinch 9-ball
national title |
| By M. Shamil Amit |
Susantha Boteju representing the Apex Pool Parlour clinched the 9-ball national championship title defeating Ryan Somaratna of Otters AC by 13 frames to 11 in a tense battle of the 25 frame final played at the BASL headquarters pool table in Reid Avenue yesterday.
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| Susantha Boteju |
Susantha who is also the reigning national snooker champion had to pull all his tricks out of the bag before overcoming the defiant Ryan who would have been satisfied though he was beaten by a more experienced player.
The champion had an easy passage in the knockout stages of the tournament where he beat Anuruddha Higgoda of Otters AC 10-7 in the 19 frame pre-quarter final and then went on to defeat club mate T.H. Silva 11-7 in the 21 frame quarter final.
Susantha had his own way in the 23 frame semi final encounter which was played in the morning session where he coasted to an easy 12-4 victory to advance to the final. In contrast Ryan underwent some anxious moments before booking his berth to the final as he confronted tough opponents.
Ryan collected a narrow 10-9 win over YMBA’s M.R.T. Chandana in the pre-quarter final and prevailed against M.J.A. Thasleem of MSC with an 11-8 win in the quarter final. He had to play really well in the semi final battle against MSC’s A.G.M. Zaheer whom he defeated at 12-8.
The scales was in fact in favour of reigning snooker champ Susantha but his opponent Ryan who is an up and coming cueist, entering in a national final for the first time got the much needed exposure to fine tune his capabilities for the future.
Meanwhile the 8 Ball national championship is also being held concurrently and the tournament has reached the knockout stage with the pre-quarter finals being slotted to be played from 11.00 a.m. onwards. |
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