National 8Ball & 9Ball Pool Championship 2008

Kolkata - West Bengal

16-26 May 2008

Manan vs. Kamal in 8Ball Final

On the penultimate day of the ONGC Spring Club National 8Ball Pool Championship being played at the Spring Club Kolkata, one veteran and one first timer survived the mishaps of the day: it will be Manan Chandra of PSPB vs. Kamal Chawla of Rlys / M.P. in the final at 5 PM tomorrow (Wednesday).

On the way to the final, Manan Chandra, a former 8Ball champion, accounted for defending champion Joshi (7-5), Bhupinder Singh (7-5), S. Bopanna (8-2) and managed to frustrate a late fight back by Rafath Habib in the semi final. He shot-off to a 7-1 lead against Rafath whose scrappy game and bad luck combined to let Manan have free time initially.

But Rafath clawed his way back by winning five racks on trot to make it 6-7. Manan, however, hung grimly to his slender lead, and then nosed ahead at the pipping post 9-7.

Kamal Chawla reached the second semi-final by eliminating Eashwar (7-2), Harish Mirchandani (7-5), and Kamraj (8-3) on the way and then, in the semi final, dashed the high hopes of former champion Alok Kumar 9-3, to cross cues with Manan Chandra in his first national final.

Though Kamal Chawla has won some invitation pool tournaments earlier, this is the first time he has broken into the National Pool ranks.

Earlier, in a notable high-quality quarter final, Alok Kumar just managed to prevail 8-6 over Dharminder Lilly, the most consistent and committed pool specialist in the country.