Rafath annexes smooker title

Chennai, Aug 8 (UNI) Busan Asian Games Gold medallist Rafath Habib of Railways annexed the title in the inaugural MCC-S A Faheem Memorial Invitation Snooker tournament here last night.

In a keen contest, Rafath brought his experience to the fore to score a 6-3 win over R Loganathan.

It was indeed a creditable fightback by Rafath after he lost the first two frames rather tamely. Rafath finally won 35-59, 40-76, 74-40, 64-30, 65-53, 22-60, 78-31, 69-49, 65-56.

Rafath took the seventh frame with a crucial break of 43, which proved to be the turning point of the final and he cleaned up all the colours and took the eighth frame for a 5-3 lead.

A desperate Loganathan adopted a positive approach and looked set to reduce the lead, until a crucial error cost him dearly.

Cashing in on the chance, Rafath pocketed the brown with a long shot, and then the blue and the pink to sew up the title.

UNI