Atthasit, the 2007 world amateur champion, was in a fine touch as he upstaged crowd favourite Thepchaiya Un-nooh, winner of the world amateur crown last year, 5-3 in the title showdown of the SangSom Pak Nam Pho Cup 2009.
Atthasit's performance on June 12 was in gross contrast to the way he had played earlier on in the tournament. He was able to score freely when the opportunity presented itself and also play a great safety game.
The final started with a break of 55 by Thepchaiya that earned him the first frame. However, Atthasit responded with a break of 62 in the next to take the second frame and even the score.
The third frame was close battle won by Atthasit on the black ball, but he went on to lose the fourth frame to allow Thepchaiya to return to a safer ground.
Thepchaiya, who was the main source of the oohs and ah from the crowd both by scoring awesome pots and then going astray with easy ones, was restricted to his corner most of the time as Atthasit carved out a brilliant break of 105 to go one-up again.
Thepchaiya had a go in the sixth frame and he conjured up a run of 68 to get on the level terms with his rival.
Atthasit was not in a mood to let the title slip from his hands and he recorded a break of 71 in the seventh frame to regain his advantage.
Atthasit turned the heat on in the next frame with a break of 52 points that helped him to a massive lead, but Thepchaiya came back to narrow the margin. As the pressure mounted, the two players took turns to miss but the mostly of these was the one by Thepchaiya.
Needing only the last black, placed only an inch or two, off the cushion and pretty straight, to pull off yet another tie, Thepchaiya missed it in a way that Atthasit came beaming out of his corner. However, Atthasit never the chance to oblige as Thepchaiya walked over to shake his hand and concede the match.
Atthasit received a cash prize of 100,000 baht for winning the tournament, while Thepchaiya took the runner-up's purse of 50,000 baht and another 15,000 baht for scoring the highest break of the tournament -- a 130-point run in the semifinals on June 11.
The next ranking event of the circuit, which is co-sponsored by CAT Telecom and Sports Authority of Thailand, will take place in Nakhon Ratchasima on July 19-24.
PICTURE: Atthasit Mahitthi receives the SangSom Pak Nam Pho Cup 2009 from President of the Nakhon Sawan Sports Association Pinyo Niroj.
FINAL FRAME SCORES: Atthasit Mahitthi beat Thepchaiya Un-nooh 5-3 (8-73(55), 91(62)-0, 64-60, 47-66, 125(105)-6, 20-76(68), 71(71)-16, 68(52)-58) |
