Snooker captain Firoz Yusufali and Kalpesh Lavingia were in top form on Sunday to lift the May A.A Powers and Tools Snooker Tournament titles at the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club (DGC).
Yusufali beat Nawaz Ladha 2-1 in the Division B final match while Lavingia triumphed by the same score over Raju Kanabar in Division A. Yusufali started the first frame strongly to beat Ladha, but lost steam in the second frame to give his opponent a chance to win it and stretch the game to the best of three frames.
The captain committed a string of foul shots in the decider, but still managed to excel and win his first snooker title. Lavingia had to overcome a stiff challenge from in-form Kanabar before beating him in a thrilling final. The first frame was even with both players trying to showcase their skills before Lavingia won it.
However, Raju fought back to grab the second before Lavingia stretched him to the limit to win the deciding frame. Lavingia was leading by 61-37 in the final frame and went on to pot yellow, green and brown (God-Bless-You) which forced his opponent to accept defeat.
On his way to the final Lavingia saw off Suril Shah 2-0 in Saturday’s semi-final. Kanabar booked a date with Lavingia after pulling a hard fought 2-0 win against April champion Lathigra in another semi-final match played on Friday.
Veteran Kanabar, who was in high mood this month, had hoped to end a two-month jinx by lifting the title, but found the going tough and will now have to wait for another month.
The snooker section used the prize giving ceremony to congratulate DGC chairman Dioniz Malinzi who is celebrating his birthday on Wednesday.
“Malinzi, who has been a very good supporter of snooker, is going to celebrate his birthday this week. We want to take this opportunity to wish him a long and prosperous life,” said Yusufali. In response Malinzi said: “I really appreciate your compliment. Thank you very much.”
Source Tanzania Daily News
