"Though I was not at my best, I am happy with the outcome of thetournament," said Ashwini after the three-hour marathon tie. Her march into the final included wins over Sangeeta Hemchand (quarter-finals) and second seed Judy Walia in the semis, the victory which she rated as her most satisfying win.

However, the 15-year-old Anuja showed glimpses of her potential by making it a hard-earned victory for her opponent. In fact an upset seemed on cards as Anuja took the first frame comfortably. While Ashwini took time to settle down, Anuja breezed ahead to win the first set 45-16.

But from thereon the 32-year-old Ashwini gathered her wits to march ahead. She took the next twoframes 65-35 and 39-11. After leading the third frame 13-8, Anuja managed breaks of six, one and eight to take a 23-13 lead. But Ashwini was not to be left behind as she again took the lead to win the frame.

As the match seemed to tilt in Ashwini's favour, Anuja levelled scores taking the fourth set 52-28.

"I was a bit nervous coming into the match," said Ashwini. "After taking a 3-2 lead, I told myself that I had to win the next frame and I did it," said Ashwini.

In the match for third place, Meenal Bairagi got the better off second seed Judy Walia of Karnataka by two frames to one. It has been a memorable tournament for Meenal who had beat both the top two seeds in the tournament. Earlier in the quarters she had ousted top seed Heena Khandelwal.

RESULTS

Final: 3- Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt 4- Anuja Thakur (Mah) 15-45, 65-35, 39-11, 28-52, 50-42, 43-34.

Third place: Meenal Bairagi (Mah) bt 2- Judy Walia (Kar) 48-36, 51-27. (Prefix denote seedings)