The final was not really a great advertisement for snooker. In fact there were times it was hard to keep track of foul and miss. In one frame, the 11th, Sarang was the beneficiary of no less than six fouls, which fetched him 24 points in all. And the highest break of the final was 41 by Shroff in the 12th frame and Shandilya had 38 twice, once each in the third and ninth frames.

``When he (Sarang) got to 6-6 after I had led by three frames on two occasions I thought it was gone. Then in the decider he had a chance with two reds on the table, butonce again I got away,'' admitted the modest Shandilya, who doubtless is on a roll these days. After winning the prize-money pool tournament in which all top Indians participated in Delhi before the Asian Games, he shocked Geet Sethi in the Asian Games billiards final and now the National snooker crown. ``Now let us see if I can stretch it to the snooker-billiards double,'' said Shandilya with a huge smile.

``I think I have been lucky ever since I got married in 1997 and more so after my son, Aditya was born in April last year.'' Now all he wants is some recognition from his employers, Railways, for his victories in the past few months.

Result: Final:

Ashok Shandilya beat Sarang Shroff 7-6 (55-29, 29-59, 59-5, 67-64, 36-65, 76-37, 59-7, 39-70, 92-36, 34-62, 41-72, 13-72, 76-36).