Rafiq Dina goes down gamely
By a staff Reporter
Chandra Hirjee qualified for the final of the National Billiards championship on Monday night when he defeated the Bombay representative Rafiq Dina by 1838 points to 1392 after four hours.
Thus did Hirjee reached the final for the sixth time. He won the title in 1946 and 1947 and was runner – up in 1952, 1954 and 1955, the tournament now in progress being that for 1956.
Clear- cut as Hirjee’s victory may seem the match was by no means one- sided. From the beginning Dina showed that he was not going to be easy to beat and he kept pace with Hirjee throughout the first session and for a large part of the second.
Hirjee was the most colourful player, especially when he got position at top of the table with the pot red and cannon sequence . Nevertheless Rafiq Dina gave a very promising display and went down gamely.
There was little to choose between the players in the early stages of the match. Dina shot slightly ahead with breaks of 20 and 30. In his 20th visit he made a break of 88 which put him 62 points in the lead but the rare scoring at that stage was not very high.
Appeared to be falling back 28th visit when he chalked break of 125 to get within points of his opponents , the scores being 485-481. Hirjee then took the lead in his 30th visits with a break of 20 but it was a slender one so that at the half way stage he led by a mere 733 points to 728 with 44 in play.
Shortly after the interval Rafiq took the lead again by making a really clever break of 113 in his second visit , the scores being 856-801 . Hirjee was in a doldrums for a brief spell but the tide turned in his favour when he came to the table for the 13th time in this session to record a sizable break of 240 which took him a few seconds over 12 minutes . Hirjee then led by 1,138 points to 1,063 and he gradually drew away to win handsomely .
Best breaks of the night were :-
Hirjee : 70 , 165 , 67 , 50 , 60 , 58 , 240 , 95 , 90 , 57 , 146 , 52 .
Rafiq Dina : 88 , 68 , 113 , 59 .
TODAY’S MATCH
BILLIARDS FINAL – (First Day)
Wilson Jones v Chandra Hirjee – 5-30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
By a staff Reporter
Chandra Hirjee qualified for the final of the National Billiards championship on Monday night when he defeated the Bombay representative Rafiq Dina by 1838 points to 1392 after four hours.
Thus did Hirjee reached the final for the sixth time. He won the title in 1946 and 1947 and was runner – up in 1952, 1954 and 1955, the tournament now in progress being that for 1956.
Clear- cut as Hirjee’s victory may seem the match was by no means one- sided. From the beginning Dina showed that he was not going to be easy to beat and he kept pace with Hirjee throughout the first session and for a large part of the second.
Hirjee was the most colourful player, especially when he got position at top of the table with the pot red and cannon sequence . Nevertheless Rafiq Dina gave a very promising display and went down gamely.
There was little to choose between the players in the early stages of the match. Dina shot slightly ahead with breaks of 20 and 30. In his 20th visit he made a break of 88 which put him 62 points in the lead but the rare scoring at that stage was not very high.
Appeared to be falling back 28th visit when he chalked break of 125 to get within points of his opponents , the scores being 485-481. Hirjee then took the lead in his 30th visits with a break of 20 but it was a slender one so that at the half way stage he led by a mere 733 points to 728 with 44 in play.
Shortly after the interval Rafiq took the lead again by making a really clever break of 113 in his second visit , the scores being 856-801 . Hirjee was in a doldrums for a brief spell but the tide turned in his favour when he came to the table for the 13th time in this session to record a sizable break of 240 which took him a few seconds over 12 minutes . Hirjee then led by 1,138 points to 1,063 and he gradually drew away to win handsomely .
Best breaks of the night were :-
Hirjee : 70 , 165 , 67 , 50 , 60 , 58 , 240 , 95 , 90 , 57 , 146 , 52 .
Rafiq Dina : 88 , 68 , 113 , 59 .
TODAY’S MATCH
BILLIARDS FINAL – (First Day)
Wilson Jones v Chandra Hirjee – 5-30 p.m. and 8 p.m.