Anuja upstages champion sister Meenal

MUMBAI: The Thakur family watched the finals of the Cygnus 7th Bombay Gymkhana all-India snooker with mixed feelings. Prakash, the father of the two finalists, Meenal and Anuja, was apprehensive about the younger Anuja, the national billiards champ, upsetting the reigning National snooker champ Meenal.
Mother Jyotsna said she didn''t care who won as long as they provided a good fare.The father''s fears were justified. Anuja beat her older sister 3-1 in the best-of-five final, which didn''t rise to any heights.
The highest break was a 26 by Anuja, who had a 38 earlier. Meenal did well to win the opening frame when Anuja clawed back from 12-48 to 47-48 before the colour balls rolled in Meenal''s favour. Thereafter Anuja played a cautious game and was rewarded as Meenal in the fourth game when she had a chance to level 2-all had three inoffs in a row and went out of the reckoning just as she threatened a comeback.
"I was wary of her comeback so didn''t take chances," said the winner who avenged her Gwalior national semi-final loss to Anuja. Anuja won Rs 12,00 and Meenal Rs 8,000.
Watching Anuja complete a hat-trick of snooker titles at the gymkhana with satisfaction was Bombay Gymkhana veteran Girish Parikh who coached them at their original club, PJ Hindu Gymkhana before getting them playing membership of the Bombay Gymkhana''s whose billiards members were proudly proclaiming the Thakur sisters as their own all through this event.
Parikh even made a plea to Mr PN Roy, president of the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India, who watched the final, to consider the the two jobless commerce graduate sisters, both national champs, for jobs that oil giants ONGC are contemplating giving to our top cue sportsmen with interviews lined up over the weekend.
In the semi-finals Neeta Sanghavi out Anuja through the wringer taking her to five frames while Mewenal avenged her league loss to Chitra Magimairaj of Karnataka.
Results: Final: Anuja Thakur bt Meenal Thakur 47-59,59-36,70-39,78-43. Semi-finals: Meenal bt Chitra Magimairaj (Ktk) 73-45,49-42,10-79,7064, Anuja bt Neeta Sanghavi 40-46,52-16,57-50,79-86,61-16.