Bhaskar, Vidya win

Bengaluru: Seasoned campaigners B Bhaskar and Vidya Pillai emerged triumphant in contrasting fashion in the state ranking 6-red snooker tournament at the KSBA hall here on Saturday. While Bhaskar, playing some of his best snooker in recent times, outplayed KS Naveen Kumar 6-2, Vidya had to dig deep into her reserves to edge out Chitra Magimairaj 4-3.
Bhaskar, who missed out on the 15-red snooker title last month, looked a cut above the rest, making the 30s and 40s breaks consistently.After the early skirmish, he was in a different zone. Naveen, who was in the contest in the first four frames of the best-of-11-frame final, just wilted under Bhaskar’s charge.

After a 42 break in the third frame, Bhaskar, who turned 50 last month, shifted gears to leave Naveen gasping in the wake. He had a fluent 61 in the sixth frame and followed that up with a gritty 52 in the next frame and wrapped up the final in the next for his second state ranking title.
Defending champion Vidya it appeared would close out the women’s final in double quick time as she took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven-frame. But veteran cueist Chitra rallied in splendid fashion, taking the next three frames to push the issue to the decider.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t maintain the same form in the seventh frame. Former national champion Vidya recovered in time and played the crucial points well to dash Chitra’s hopes. She took the crucial brown, blue and pink to retain her title.
Results: Men: Final: B Bhaskar bt KS Naveen Kumar 6-2 (42-12, 22-36, 42-17, 13-40, 32-21, 61 (61) -8, 57-0, 39-28).Third place playoff: Sean Davis bt Francis Joe 4-0 (75-30, 58-16, 48-0, 45-14).Semis: Naveen bt Sean Davis 5-3 (25-17, 48-4, 46-16, 18-37, 4-50, 32-40, 46-18, 37-24); Bhaskar bt Francis Joe 5-0 (45-16, 32-23, 54-0, 49-0, 48-18).5-8 place playoffs: R Santosh bt BVS Murthy 3-0 (53-8, 25-22, 44-5); MS Arun bt Rohit Ravindran 3-2 (56-12, 40-18, 10-35, 23-39, 36-29); bt Santosh 3-2 (52-0, 22-32, 49-17, 28-32, 63-1); Ravindran bt Murthy 3-0 (49-35, 45-41, 54-0).Final standings: 1. B Bhaskar; 2. KS Naveen Kumar; 3. Sean Davis; 4. Francis Joe; 5. MS Arun; 6. R Santosh; 7. Rohit Ravindran; 8. BVS Murthy. Women: Final: Vidya Pillai bt Chitra M 4-3 (46-32, 58-0, 42 (42) -27, 22-45, 30-39, 8-43, 30-11). Final standings: 1. Vidya Pillai; 2. Chitra M; 3. Keerthana P; 4. Varshaa Sanjeev.