Kathmandu, Feb 26:Tashi Wangchuk and Joe Pandey won the respective final of the preliminary round at Bouddha Snooker House and Nasal Snooker Saturday under the All Nepal Carlsberg Snooker Championship being organised by Gorkha Brewery Ltd in Association with Billiards, Snooker and Pool Association of Nepal.
Wangchuk began his quest in the final hesitatively, going down 21-82 to his opponent Rajan Lama but he gradually got hold of the match, as it grew older. Lama, after having opened with a win, failed to maintain his tempo and Wangchuk took the second and third frames 64-39, 65-20 for a 2-1 load.
Lama struck back with a bang in the fourth to win it by 81-20 and level the score at 2-2 but again his concentration was found much to be desired. And Wangchuk finished off the best of seven frame match, winning the last two frames by 76-31, 91-14.
There was, however, a consolation for Lama as his break of 49 points in the semifinals remained unmatched.
The final at Nasal Snooker House got off in a similar fashion with Joe Pandey, the eventual winner, dropping the opening frame to Maqsood Uddin 15-65 before finding his touch in the match. it was an exciting context which went all the way to the deciding seventh frame.
Maqsood managed to score the highest break of the venue with 34 points but he seemed to have lack of match temperament as he gave away rooms to his opposition from winning positions several times.
The next four frames had close finishing as both the players struggled and lost control of the game right after winning a frame. Maqsood, after dropping the second frame at 44-48, took the following by 60-56 to go into a 2-1 lead. But it was then the turn of Pandey to give his shot and took the fourth and fifth ones, 53-40, 47-42 to take the lead for the first time in the match which eventually paved his way to victory.
It was anybody’s match as Maqsood registered what turned out to be the highest break to win the penultimate frame by 71-25. But it was Pandey who held on to his nerves to snatch the title away from Maqsood with a score of 43-34 at last.
Likewise, Ang Pemba Sherpa put off the challenge of Prakash Pradhan by 4-2 to triumph at Bouddha Snooker House. The final score of the match read 70-56, 67-6, 42-40, 23-62, 20-66, 48-39 in favour of Sherpa.
The winners, runners-up and highest breakers were awarded prizes and certificates by marketing manager of Gorkha Brewery Rajendra Gurung and brand managers Ashish Bista and Pankaj Timilsena respectively.