News – Men, s final which had begun along with the Ladies final.
It was actually Ishpreet who set the tenor of the match by winning the cagey first frame. Pankaj came back wresting the second frame only to find Ishpreet playing well enough in an identical percentage game battle taking the third and fourth frame to gain an invaluable lead by 3-1 frames.
In the fifth frame too Ishpreet was well poised to pocket the fifth frame but a costly lapse on the colours stage allowed Pankaj to wrest the initiative and take the frame narrowing the gap to 2-3.
In the following two frames Pankaj was on a roll easily taking the sixth and seventh frames to forge ahead by 4-3 frames for the first time in the best of 13 frames tie.
Yet it was the super fluke on the colours stage of the eighth frame which actually helped Pankaj to claim the honours.
Had that fluke not come at the nick of time, Ishpreet was still in with a good chance to make a match of it.
However as they say the Champion always have the edge in matters of luck so be it.
What followed in the last two frames was a mere formality thereafter as Pankaj was his fluent self while Ishpreet seemed to lose the motivation.
Pankaj completed the formality with consummate ease eventually to lift the beautiful glass trophy and the title.
Ishpreet was also not shamed while ending up the runner – up in the almost two weeks of packed snooker action.
