Thai billiards pair make golden break

Thailand's billiards duo Praput Chaithanasakun and Udon Khaimuk have pocketed gold in the men's billiards doubles at the Al-Sadd Sports Club, beating Myanmar pair Kyaw Ooand Aung Oo San 3-1 (101-26, 102-95, 35-100, 101-63) on 7 December.

The Thai pair enjoyed slices of luck along the way as Myanmar let various opportunities slip, especially in the second game. And the lapses proved costly as the tide irrevocably turned in Thailand's favour and allowed Chaithanasakun to retain his doubles gold from Busan 2002.

After winning the first game, Thailand were comfortably placed in the second following a 53 break by Khaimuk, who missed a red in the top left pocket to leave Myanmar in good table position.

Aung San Oo then scored a fluent break of 92 that ended rather cruelly when le lost good position. Oo narrowly missed a one-cushion cannon and with that ended Myanmar's hopes in the second frame as Chaithanasakun potted an unfinished run of 22.

In the third frame, Chaithanasakun played a poor safety shot to allow his opponents a chance and Myanmar needed no second invitation. Small breaks marked their progress to the 100 points mark and they were back in the contest with two frames to play.

Chaithanasakun, double gold medallist at the 2002 Asian Games, fittingly finished the match with breaks of 41 and 30 in frame four, giving the Myanmar pair no chance of continuing their comeback.

When asked how they will celebrate their victory after the match, Chaithanasakun hinted at a quiet evening when he said: "We will probably go back to the village for Thai food or something like that."

Earlier, Geet Siriram Sethi andAshok Shandilya of India won the bronze medal in the event after convincingly defeating Pakistan's Vishan Gir and Sohail Shahzad 3-0 (101-13, 102-9, 102-37).

In a disappointingly one-sided play-off, the Indian pair proved too strong for their inexperienced opponents, who were never allowed to make a definitive score in the match.

Their bronze was India's fourth cue sports medal in the 15th Asian Games after they won both gold and silver medals in billiards singles and bronze in the snooker team event.

"We are happy with the medal," said Shandilya after the match. "We would've liked to have done better, but this is a sport where you have to take the good with the bad. It doesn't matter as we'll come back at the next Asian Games."

By 15th Asian Games, Doha 2006