New Delhi, Sept 27: Delhi's Manan Chandra defeated defending champion Alok Kumar of Punjab 11-9 to lift the third national nine-ball pool championship. Chandra, who was outplayed by Kumar at the start of the game, showed his class as he rallied back from a 1-5 deficit to take the title for the second time late last night in Chandigarh.
The Delhi lad, who has been a formidable figure in both pool and snooker championships in the country and abroad, had also won the opening Pool Championship in Bangalore. Chandra and Kumar will represent India in the world and Asian Pool Championship, the dates of which are yet to be declared, billiards and snooker federation of India vice President R K Tandon told a news agency on phone.

In the semi-final, Chandra defeated Dharminder Lily of Punjab 9-5 while Kumar prevailed over K Ranjan of Tamil Nadu by the same margin.

In the classification match for the third and fourth position Ranjan beat Lily 7-1.

Raj Kumar of Karnata finished fifth, Sheetal Verma of Punjab was sixth while Rishabh Thukral and Mukesh Rehani of Delhi took the seventh and eighth spot. Bureau Report