Chandra, Chawla reach 6-Red snooker finals

Manan Chandra and Kamal Chawla beat Aditya Mehta and Pushpinder Singh respectively to reach the finals of the National 6-Red Snooker Championship at the Bengal Rowing Club here on Tuesday.

Aditya Mehta was left ruing the lost chances.

Reflecting on the semi-final, Mehta said: "Manan played the long shots perfectly which I couldn't. In 6-Reds, nobody is the favourite. The margin for error is almost non-existent. And once somebody is on the roll, it is very difficult to claw back."

The game ended with the scoreline reading 6-4 (48-09, 7-77, 1-39, 46-17, 61-0, 44-31, 0-52, 16-46, 38-0, 46-01).

Both matches drew a full house as Chandra, a former national champion, was up against Mehta and Chawla, former Asian 6-Red Snooker semifinalist, was up against Pushpinder.

Chief national coach Manoj Kothari, commenting on the Chandra-Mehta showdown, said: "Manan played better today and showed some excellent long potting even from semi-difficult positions which Aditya could not do. Manan was more consistent and wrapped up the frames effortlessly. Aditya missed some chances and never really manage to put Manan under pressure."

In the women's segment, Amee Kamani set up a final clash against Vidya Pillai. Amee beat Chitra M. 4-2 with frame scores of 22-30, 33-22, 46-11, 15-35, 39-06, 35-19 while Vidya beat Neena Praveen 4-1 (8-43, 30-04, 33-04, 34-17, 31-15).

Commenting on the Women's finalists, Kothari said: "Amee has been having a great run for the past 12 months after picking up last year's snooker crown.

"Vidya, on the other hand, is a seasoned player. The format of 6-Reds is such that there are no clear favourites. I am hoping to see some scintillating 6-Red snooker tomorrow in both the men's and women's finals."