Kothari clinches maiden senior national snooker title

Sourav Kothari (PSPB) won his maiden senior National 15-Red snooker crown, beating Paras Gupta (UP) 6-2 in the final on Sunday in the ongoing 90th National Billiards & Snooker Championships at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here.

Primarily a billiards player, Kothari is a former National billiards champion, and last month finished runner-up to his PSPB colleague Pankaj Advani in the IBSF world billiards final in Doha.

Kothari was in splendid form in this 15-Red snooker competition, defeating Advani in the round-of-32. On Sunday, he beat Md Hussain Khan (RSPB) 5-0 in the semifinals and put it past Gupta 58-46, 72-34, 0-64, 59-25, 61-54, 21-57, 64-8, 64-25 for the title.

“It’s been a wonderful ride for me. Both a great experience and tough luck for me today,” said Gupta.