Sitwala again falls short in National billiards final

by Shrutee K 

Mumbai: Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) for the second successive year finished runner-up in the BSFI (Billiards & Snooker Federation of India) National Billiards and Snooker Championship 2022-23.

In the final, Sitwala went down fighting to compatriot Brijesh Damani 3-5 in the 150-up best-of-9 frame format, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on Monday.

The Mumbai-based Sitwala had defeated Damani 5-2 in the semi-final of the last edition and then lost 2-5 to eventual champion Pankaj Advani in the final last year.

The former two-time Asian billiards champion Sitwala looked to be in good nick and rolled in a break of 108, the first century break of the title-deciding match, in winning the third frame to take a 2-1 lead.

But, Damani bounced back in grand style and with breaks of 94 in the fourth and fifth frames and a run of 88 in the sixth won the next three frames to take a 4-2 lead. Sitwala showed signs of fighting back and compiled a break of 99 to win the seventh to close the gap.

However, the Kolkata-based Damani seemed to have saved his best for last and with some steady consistent play constructed a break of match-winning 117 break to clinch the eight frame and wrap up the contest to win his maiden National crown.

Earlier, Sitwala got the better of Rupesh Shah by a fighting 5-4 margin in a closely contested semi-final, while Damani defeated 2019 champion S. Shrikrishna to advance to the final.

Result billiards (finals): Brijesh Damani (PSPB) beat Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) 5-3 (119(53)-151, 150-46, 0-150(108), 150(94)-18, 150(94,62)-91, 150(88,54)-0, 6-150(99), 151(117)-86).