Gurbaxani pips Padhy to lift youth snooker crown

India junior no 2, Kreishh Gurbaxani, clawed his way back from 0-3 to turn the tables on Asutosh Padhy 5-4 in the final of the Bombay Gymkhana Youth Snooker Open here.

Gurbaxani, runner up in the last junior nationals, struggled initially and then settled down to quash the aspirations of Padhy by clinching a 30-63, 46-57, 42-51, 60- 45, 64-57, 68-21, 1-63, 85-28, 77-31 in a four-hour contest.

The winner received the champion's trophy and a cheque of Rs 30,000, while Padhy received the runner-up trophy and a cheque of Rs 20,000.

Losing semi-finalists, S Shrikrishna and Ishpreet Singh Chaddha, both got richer by Rs 10,000. The former, who had constructed a 101-break, got a bonus of Rs 2,500 for the feat.

In the semi-finals, Gurbaxani knocked out top seed Shrikrishna of Tamil Nadu 4-2 (59-56, 83-14, 2-66(53), 29-58, 59-47, 77-41) while second seed Chaddha was beaten 4-3 (77-64, 20-57, 9-62, 69-0, 5-71, 65-22, 60-12) by Padhy.