S MageshwaranBangalore, June 18: The debutant dethroned the defending champ. The Karnataka State Billiards Association Hall, scene of the development of many a junior star, was the happy hunting ground of yet another one.

Delhi's Manan Chandra, slowly but systematically subdued the challenge of top seed and defending champion Gaurav Anand of the Railways by a 4-2 margin to emerge as the new National Junior snooker champion at the Titan PSI 2000 63rd Senior National Billiards and 21st Junior Billiards & Snooker Championships.

Manan had shown glimpses of his talent during the course of his win over second seed Siddarth Anand on Tuesday. But today, he took his game a notch higher to defeat his better known, but less composed, rival.

The manner in which Manan, son of former ace Tarun Chandra shot ahead 46-40 from 16-40 potting two blues, two pinks and a yellow, gave ample evidence to the determination the 16-year-old had going into the match. Manan's best was to come later in the same frame.

With the score tied precariously 50-50, Gaurav succumbed to pressure, squandering the pink. But Manan was a picture of concentration while potting the pink and subsequently the black to go 1-0 ahead.

Continuing from where he left in the first frame, Manan raced from 30-7 to a 61-7 lead with three blacks and one blue, which gave no chance for Gaurav in the second frame.

But Gaurav was not to be deterred by the 0-2 deficit as he fiercely came back into the match, first by reducing the margin with a break of 33 (three pinks, and two blues) to go into a 48-20 lead from a 15-20 position in the third.

Manan seized control of the fifth frame with a break of 61, eventually the highest in the match, potting the black five times, the pink twice and the blue once for a 61-6 lead, from where he never looked back.

Gaurav will take home the runner-up prize of Rs 2,500 besides the prize for the highest break.

RESULTS

Snooker (Semifinal league): Manan Chandra (Del) bt Gaurav Anand (Rlys) 4-2 (63-50, 76-48, 20-57, 41-67, 76-26, 53-7); Siddarth Anand (Del) bt Manav Panchal (Mah) 4-2 (65-44, 14-61, 74-31, 56-55, 40-59, 63-59)

Billiards: Seniors: Group G: Alok Kumar (Pun) bt Arvind Savur (Kar) 612-550.

Juniors: Devang Shah (Mah) bt Anuj Jhunjhunwala (Kar) 798-762; Chintan Zaveri (Mah) bt Gaurav Anand (Rlys) 1072-696.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.