Sourav enters in his first World championship final
- Written by Vivek Pathak - Media Officer, IBSF
Sourav Kothari - India
IBSF Media
Post resounding his win against the tournament favourite Pankaj Advani last night, Kothari went for his semi-final match with much more confidence and the same reflected in his game also. He took on when Indian youngster Dhvaj Haria who entered in the semis after defeating player from Myanmar Aung Htay last night.
Sourav started with the opening shot and in second visit itself he posted first century break to take initial lead. On 141 points, when he found himself out of position, he opted to play double baulk safe.
The same pattern he applied in next two visits where after having breaks of 98 and 111 he opted safe shot and that strategy actually worked which resulted in score of 360 against 10 within total 7 visits.
The lead of 350 points gave a comfort zone to Sourav as he kept picking decent points at regular intervals whereas on the other side, Dhvaj was already under pressure to get back his rhythm which he was losing every time the lead increases. He was actually struggling in converting his starts into big breaks.
Finally he managed to get the first century break when he scored 151 points in 26th visit and reduced the deficit but Sourav was quick to post another break of 228 points and once again widened the gap to almost double.
Dhvaj’s struggle continued and none of his break crossed the 50 points whereas Sourav constantly hammering with similar points breaks to keep the lead intact.
When it appeared that Sourav will finish it off, he missed a shot on total 1200 points. That miss forced him to wait for a longer time as Dhvaj tried his last chance and went for a big break. Though the gap was wide but certainly it was a good try as he scored 221 points before falling down. Finally Sourav scored balance 50 points to win the match 1250-816.
