India’s ace cueist Aditya Mehta has won the title of National Snooker Championship 2020 by registering a victory over several-time world champion Pankaj Advani 6-2 at the National Snooker Championship in Pune.
Aditya Mehta, who was representing the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), won the first frame by 103 points to kick off the finals with a bang as both players scored 103–17. After this, Aditya Mehta, lost track for some time as he lost his next two frames by a close margin of 50 -58, 47-48. Just when it was looking that former world champion Pankaj Advani was making a comeback, Mehta kept his nerves in check and won the next four frames to clinch the title 6–2 in the best of 11 frames.
Mehta after winning the title said, “The title will be very special to me since it’s coming after four years. I was nursing an injury which kept me off the tables. I would like to enjoy the moment and spend time with my family without whom my recovery would not have been smooth.”
The newly crowned national champion further went on to say that he was happy to start the final on a positive note by making a century in the first game. He added that he did lose the momentum after the first game as he lost his focus due to headaches. He further added that he was lucky to make a comeback from two one down and his strength to fight back to the lead turned out to be the turning point. Te ace cueist said that he is very confident in his game.
Mehta finally concluded, “When two top players are playing, sometimes the margins are very small. So, you just have to do your job and do the best. You can hope that luck is on your side and accept the outcome.”
At the same time, in the final of the Women’s National Snooker Championship, Karnataka’s Vidya Pillai defeated Madhya Pradesh’s Amy Kamani 3-2 (41-68, 57 -35, 37-61, 69-50, 87-05) and senior women’s group Defended his title in This is the tenth National Snooker title of Pillai.