Devendra Joshi wins National billiards

Devendra Joshi of Maharashtra clinched the National billiards tittle when he toppled defending champion Ashok Shandilya of the Railways 1653-972 in the final, in Madras, on Friday.

Right from the start, Joshi was in devastating form, running up solid breaks. The Maharashtra cueist ran up a 194-break on his 42nd visit, which bettered Shandilya's 191 which was notched up during the semi-final against Alok Kumar on Thursday.

Joshi had steady breaks of 97 (10th), 91 (11th) 82 (15th) 105 (17th), 101 (21st), 80 (22nd), 98 (23rd), 144 (3oth), 180 (32nd), 66 (37th) 117 (41st), 194 (42nd).

Manoj Kothari of West Bengal beat Alok Kumar to take the third place.