The much-hyped finale failed to live up to expectations. It was an error-prone battle from the very beginning, with breaks coming at a premium.

It was the more accurate Praprut who took the initial lead pocketing the first two frames. On both occasions sizeable breaks -- 32 (first frame) and 25 (second) -- saw the match tilt in the Thai's favour.

In the third, it was Praprut's turn to make mistakes as Shandilya piled up a 59-31 frame in his favour. The spring was back in Shandilya's step as he took the next frame comfortably to level scores. Alas, that was to be his last frame in this tournament.

A fine break of 58 early in the fifth frame saw Praprut take a 3-2 lead into the secondsession. The break ended when he misdirected the black at the top right pocket.

If the first session was bad for Shandilya, the second turned out to be a nightmare. ``I was making far too many mistakes. I could have never won like that,'' said the Railways cueist who attributed his lack of judgement to the constant switching between snooker and billiards. Shandilya had managed to reach the billiards semi-final, where he lost to Peter Gilchrist of the United Kingdom, yesterday.

Praprut, on his part, was not playing great snooker. ``Even with the first session lead I was not sure about winning. But with him (Shandilya) making too many mistakes in the second session I knew I had a better chance of winning,'' he revealed.

Praprut made a clean sweep in the next three frames to pocket the Rs 45,000 winner's cheque. Praprut owes some of that money to Shandilya. Not only did he play bad today, Shandilya also eliminated Yasin Merchant and Sarang Shroff, the two men the Thai had said he would not like to meet inthe final. While defending champion Merchant ``was a very dangerous customer'', Shroff would also be a difficult proposition ``because his style of play is very similar to mine.''

The win ended a two-year drought for the Thai. ``I think it is the good fortune of my new-born baby,'' noted Praprut who's wife bore their third child just a month a ago. Interestingly his historic win over his formidable countrymate James Wattana in the King's Cup also came when his first child was just a month old. ``But I will have to win otherwise too,'' he added when someone suggested he should have more children to win more titles.