Boteju begins campaign on winning note
View(s):64th National Snooker Championship
By M. Shamil Amit
Defending national snooker champion Susantha Boteju of Sea Endless began his campaign of the 64th National Snooker Championship which got underway at the Billiards and Snooker Association headquarters billiards at Sugathadasa Hotel in Colombo on a winning note.
Boteju who formerly represented the YMCA underwent some anxious moments before pulling off a 4-2 win over M. Akeel of AAC in the seven frame first round encounter. Boteju who took a two frame lead was given a fright by Akeel who took the third and fourth frames before he settled down to record easy wins in the fifth and sixth frame to take the game.
Meanwhile there were two upsets with two former national snooker runners up undergoing defeats the first was M.Z.A. Zulfi of MSC getting the better of H.A.M. Rimzan of Army by four frames to three and the other being M.R.M. Rezan of Sea Endless chalking up and four nil win over S.H.M. Aslam of MSC.
In the other matches that were played in the morning session saw the experience K.H. Sirisoma of SLPA who has won the national billiards title for a record 24 times along with M. Thanji (AAC), S.M. Zulficar (YMCA) and M.M. Mubeen (Army) winning their with ease while M.J.A. Thasleem (AAC) and K. Devapura (Galle) recording hard fought wins.
The 64th National Snooker Championship conducted by the Billiards and Snooker Association of Sri Lanka is being fought out for the late U.W. Sumathipala memorial trophy. The tournament will be continued today.
Results:
Susantha Boteju (Sea Endless) beat M. Akeel (AAC) 4-2 (69/07, 48/10, 46/59, 63/65, 57/10, 58/10). K.H. Sirisoma (SLPA) beat M.R.T. Chandana (AAC) 4-0 (57/41, 51/41, 70/33, 67/48). M. Thanji (AAC) beat K. Devapura (Galle) 4-0 (66/46, 65/46, 89/04, 58/11). S.M. Zulficar (YMCA) beat M.M. Muzni (MSC) 4-1 (50/28, 69/40, 71/18, 25/56, 63/01). M.M. Mubeen (Army) beat H.A. Deen (Kandy) 4-1 (74/37, 35/50, 51/16, 58/04, 59/09). M.Z.A. Zulfi (MSC) beat H.A.M. Rimzan (Army) 4-3 (54/38, 55/38, 44/53, 28/52, 55/44, 17/54, 74/22). M.J.A. Thasleem (AAC) beat Shashika Perera (The Cue) 4-3 (25/50, 26/64, 44/36, 49/72, 62/50, 39.32, 56/10). M.R.M. Rezan (Sea Endless) beat S.H.M. Aslam (MSC) 4-0 (76/50, 60.20, 63/58, 48/39). K. Devapura (Galle) beat S.J.M. Samarakoon 4-3 (24/50, 14/53, 33/09, 57/64, 57/56, 53/16, 81/42).