India's Sourav Kothari wins WBL world billiards title

Bengaluru, October 27: India's Sourav Kothari beat Peter Gilchrist 1134-944 to clinch the World Billiards Championship timed-format tournament which concluded in Leeds, England.

The tournament was held under the aegis of World Billiards Ltd (WBL), the apex body of all English Billiards ranking events around the world.

Earlier in the semifinals, Kothari steered his way to a dramatic victory in the dying minutes of the game over six-time world and defending champion David Causier of England by 1317-1246.

Gilchrist also found it tough in the other last-four encounter, before using all his experience to beat England's Robert Hall 883-846 in a close contest in which he had a big break of 253 on his first visit to the table.

The script of the semifinal match was nothing short of a fairy tale for Kothari who at one stage of the match trailed by more than 500 points with almost no hope of getting back into the match, given Causier's uncanny capacity of relentless high break building and scoring.

In the final, the former national and Asian champion was in his elements against the Singapore-based Englishman. Kothari had eight breaks of fifty plus and that included a mammoth 305 and two over 100.

Sourav Kothari wins the WBL World #Billiards Title org by World Billiards Ltd. at Leeds, England. He defeated Peter Gilchrist of Singapore scoring 1134-944 in the final.

Full Results: https://t.co/lexyAT12TX pic.twitter.com/3HiMRzQz9c

— Cue Sports India 🇮🇳 (@cuesportsindia) October 26, 2018

Gilchrist notched six breaks of fifty plus and that included a 216 on his second visit to the table.

Earlier in the competition, Kothari defeated Paul McGowan of Scotland 653-163 in the round of 32 and comfortably got past Ryan Mears of England 532-375 in the pre-quarterfinals.