Sourav Kothari bags rare double in Pacific International Snooker

MELBOURNE: It was double delight for former world billiards champion Sourav Kothari, who clinched the Pacific International Billiards Championship title on Friday, just days after bagging the Snooker crown in the same event.
The 37-year-old Kothari edged past multiple-time English champion Rob Hall of England 1500-1321 in the finals of the Level 5 highest World Billiards ranking event to win the title.
The 2018 World Billiards champion thus became only the second cueist after Mathew Bolton of Australia to achieve a double title in the Pacific International.
In the thrilling final, Kothari displayed great mastery of cue ball control from the beginning. He notched up breaks of 161, 141, 135 and 117 to take a massive 600-point lead.
The Englishman could manage only a solitary century break of 177 during that session.
A couple of missed regulation drop cannons by Kothari in the next session saw Hall fight back with a magnificent break of 391 as he reduced the margin to 200 points before overtaking Kothari.
Kothari showed great calmness and composure under trying circumstances and sealed the issue with a century break of 111.
Earlier, Hall ousted World Billiards Champion Peter Gilchrist of Singapore by 1204-122 registering big breaks of 244 and 192.
Kothari scraped past compatriot Dhruv Sitwala in a nail-biting 1200-1131.