World Billiards Champion sets eyes on Asian Indoor games title

Bangalore, Apr 9 (UNI) Chitra Magimairaj, who successfully defended her title at the World Billiards Championship in Cambridge recently, has now set her eyes on the Asian Indoor Games title, to be held in Macau in October.

Coming as a birthday gift on April 7, when she turned 33, the title was described by her father as a masters degree without passing the SSLC as Chitra had never won the national title.

Talking to newspersons at the Karnataka State Billiards Association here, Chitra said her other dream was to win the IBSF World Snooker Title.

Her regret was that IBSF, the global governing body for billiards and snooker, had no billiards event for women. ''I wish IBSF also adds billiards to its events, because that would get more women to play billiards around the world,'' she added.

In Cambridge, Chitra defeated England's Emma Bonny 193-164 to retain her title. She had earlier defeated Renu Bharaktiya 207-150 in the semifinals.

She said that in the repeat of last year's finals, she was under tremendous pressure with only 20 minutes left and Emma leading by 35 points. ''To win, I had to wipe off the lead first. But I regained my will power and made it. Really I was very thrilled after winning, that was the moment I ever remember.'' Added to the pressure was the fact that Chitra had suffered a loss at the hands of campatriot Anuja Thakur (180-173) in the Snooker quarterfinals just the previous day. However, she regained composure after the setback and marched forward to lift the billiards title for the second time.

She said she could not hide her joy at the victory and expressed her gratitude to the Indian student community for the support.

Chitra underwent a 25-day coaching at the World Snooker Academy before the tournament under 64-year-old Coach Barry Stark.

In all, 12 players from Australia, Austria, Sweden and India participated in the championship.

UNI