Aditya wraps up India’s Asiad snooker campaign with singles bronze

GUANGZHOU - Aditya Mehta potted an unexpected bronze in the men’s snooker singles after losing in the semi-finals as India finished with four medals at the 16th Asian Games here Saturday.

Aditya, who defeated stronger opponents en route to the last four, lost to Marco Fu of Hong Kong 20-62, 7-60, 68-55, 15-59, 21-71 at the Asian Games Town Gymnasium.

Friday, Aditya won a hard fought battle against Singaporean Ang Boon Chin 4-3 to make it to the last four. He had defeated Boon Chin also in the one-off frame in the men’s snooker team event.

The 25-year-old’s bronze was a surprise one after India’s top cueist Pankaj Advani suffered an early exit from the snooker event, losing in the pre-quarterfinals.

India, with the fourth cue sports medal coming on the final day, equalled its tally of four medals it won during the 2006 Doha edition. Apart from Advani’s gold in the billiards singles, the Indian trio of Aditya, Veteran Yasin Merchant and Brijesh Damani won a silver in the men’s snooker team event. Alok Kumar pocketed a bronze in the men’s singles 8-ball pool.

However, India’s best performance in cue sports in the Games history came in Bangkok 1998, where the sport was played for the first time. India won two gold medals, courtesy Ashok Shandilya and Geet Sethi, besides a silver and a bronze.