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Mumbai, August 18: Siddharth Parikh of Railways in grand fashion rose to the challenge and seemed to have saved his best for last as he crafted a stupendous effort, a 456 break, which helped him emerge champion. The Mumbai-based lanky cueist, Parikh showed good temperament and produced a virtuoso performance to quash the aspirations of Sourav Kothari of ONGC by comfortably coasting to a 818-359 margin of victory in the 150-minute grand final of the Cricket Club of India organized Rs 3.8 lakhs prize-money CCI Billiards Classic 2018, at the Club’s Sir Wilson Jones Billiards Room on Saturday.

Parikh had started with a break of 203 and then managed a run of 53 as wrested the initiative before compiling the huge break. The Kolkata-based Kothari’s form seemed to have deserted him as he could only manage three substantial breaks of 75, 86 and 100.

Earlier, in a semi-final encounter, the Kolkata-based Kothari, a former Asian Billiards champion, showed good break-building abilities and started with a bang amassing a 211 break, his third double century effort in the competition, to brush aside the lukewarm challenge from seasoned pro and compatriot Alok Kumar, marching to a 652-231 victory with plenty to spare, at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards room on Saturday.

Besides the mammoth break, Kothari had a century run of 130 and two breaks of 74 and 63 wrap up the match. Alok Kumar, who was unable to offer much of a fight, could only manage a half century break of 52.

On a side table, Parikh picked up steam from the start to send his Railways teammate Ashok Shandilya crashing out in the penultimate round. The lanky Parikh potted consistently and constructed two century breaks -- 115 and 198 and over half a dozen half centuries as he waltzed to a 991-424 victory without much ado. The former World Champion Shandilya could only muster three breaks of 53, 55 and 65.

Meanwhile, Dhvaj Haria of IOC who had made a magnificent 288 break in the round of 16, could not continue with the same form and suffered a defeat at the hands of ONGC’s Alok Kumar in a quarter-final match. The vastly experienced Alok Kumar with some shrewd play defeated his younger opponent Haria 636-560 to maintain his unbeaten run and advance to the semi-finals.

Menahile, former Asian Billiards champion Sourav Kothari (ONGC) and Siddharth Parikh (Railway), both continued with their fine winning run of form to also progress to the last four round. The Kolkata-based Kothari prevailed over Maharashtra cueist Rohan Jambusaria 733-439, while the MumbI-based Parikh halted Tamil Nadu youngster S. Shrikrishna’s excellent winning streak by posting a 704-597 victory.

Results – Final: Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) beat Sourav Kothari (ONGC) 818(203,53,456)-359(75,86100).

Semi-finals: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) beat Alok Kumar (ONGC) 652(211,74,130,63)-231(52);

Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) beat Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 991(90,66,115,83,198,52,70,63,55 )-424(53,55,65).

Results – Quarter-finals: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) beat Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) 733(82,100,108, 84,132,114)-439.

Alok Kumar (ONGC) beat Dhvaj Haria (ONGC) 636(138,64,62)-560(153,178,78);

Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) beat K. Venkatesh (Rlys) 759(89,56,91,54,123)-409(56);

Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) beat S. Shrikrishna (BPCL) 704(51,158,53)-597(50,51,79).