Munish Khattar ended Kalpesh Lavingia’s two-month dominance and was crowned the new snooker king at the August Mug tournament held at the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club (DGC) over the weekend.
Khattar wiped all his sadness since the tournament was introduced in March this year and won his first title against the best player in the Division A battle.
He maintained top form to lift the first snooker title this year with a straight 2-0 victory against a tough contender who was looking for another record in the two-week Sameer Essajee sponsored event.
Khattar had to overcome a stiff challenge from Lavingia — the winner of May and June Mugs — before beating him by 2-0 frames in a thrilling best of three frames final. Both frames were even for both players and each tried to showcase his skills but Khattar closed the game and prevented Lavingia from making another history.
Lavingia became the first player to win back to back titles in May and June but faltered to Khattar this time. The tournament was skipped in July to pave way for the Holy Month of Ramadhan. Lavingia reached the final after seeing off another tough contender and April champion Ramesh Lathigra by 2-1 victory in the semi-final.
Khattar had to show excellent skills to win his semi-final tie against Raju Kanabar 2-0 on Friday night to set a date with Lavingia in the final showdown. Players who won Division A title since March are Arjun Lavingia (March) and Lathigra (April). Hitesh Valambia won the Division B title – the second this year — after beating DGC snooker captain Firoz Yusufali 2-1.
He won it for the first time in March while Yusufali was the winner in May. Valambia had a very good weekend as he also took home the overall trophy at “Play for Sight” golf tournament at the club over the weekend.
Other Division B player who have won the title are Rupesh Soni alias Gugi (April) and June champion Hussein Zavery, a Cape Town University student, who missed last month’s event after returning to South Africa.
Source Tanzania Daily News
