Defending champion in 8-ball pool event,Manan Chandra was itching to have a go at the newly-laid tables at the YMCA Hall on the eve of the BLP National Pool Championships which begin from Monday. Chandra moved from one table to the other; and when he reached the fourth table,he pronounced his verdict: The movement on the felt cloth surface is nice and smooth, said Chandra. Of course,I want to defend my title and,possibly,go on to annex the 9-ball crown as well. I have not won a title in Delhi and I want to break that jinx, he added. Chandra has seven pool titlesfive in 9-ball and two in 8-ball eventsbut all these achievements have come outside Delhi. Way back in 2005,Chandra had won both the titles and was determined to repeat the feat at home. But he will be wary of another defending champion (9-ball) Rafat Habib and a host of others in the star-studded field Dharminder Lily,Devendra Joshi,Alok Kumar,Sumit Talwar and Shahbaz Khan,who will be competing in both events. In the womens section,both Meenal Thakur (8 Ball) and Anuja Chandra (9 Ball) had made it a family affair in the Kolkata championships last year. But with Asian Games berth at stake,they will have to pull out all stops to secure their places.
