Petroleum Sports Promotion Board cueist Alok Kumar won the Senior National snooker title, defeating Rupesh Shah of Gujarat by six frames to five, at the Karnataka [ Images ] Snooker and Billiards Hall, in Bangalore, on Friday.

It turned out to be a clean sweep for PSPB, as Anuja Thakur won the corresponding title for ladies, blanking Vidya Pillai of Tamil Nadu 3-0 in the final.

Anuja thus completed a grand double, having won the billiards title, beating her sister Meenal Thakur, last week.

In a marathon eight-hour final, held over two sessions, Kumar, who had won the national title five times earlier, beat Shah 66-19, 59-05, 73-17, 52-60, 61-68, 10-66, 65-17, 60-35, 26-47, 43-83, 80-65.

Anuja won 79-37, 75-15, 69-33.

Kumar, a quarter-finalist at the World Snooker Championship, stormed to a 3-0 lead in the morning, but had to face stiff resistance from Shah, who bounced back to level frame scores at 3-3 and again rallied from a 3-5 deficit to draw level at 5-5.

However, Kumar the last laugh as he won the final frame with a timely break of 36. When the score in the decider was level at 63-all, Kumar had a lucky break after Shah committed four fouls. He finished off the game, clearing the pink, to emerge as the worthy winner.

''The tournament was really tiring. I should have wrapped up the game after leading 3-0 but I was too tired due to the tough schedule after I beat Pankaj Advani [ Images ] in the semis last night. The decider proved to be very tough as Rupesh was unrelenting. The fouls he committed in the fag end of the match gave me a breather," Shah said.

The 24-year-old Anuja said, 'It feels great to win two national titles in a single tournament.'

Results (finals):

Men: Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Rupesh Shah (Gujarat) 6-5 [66(break of 44)-19, 59 (b-39)-05, 73-17, 52-60, 61-68, 10-66 (b-42) 65-17, 60-35, 26-47, 43-83 (b-37, 38), 80-65 (b-36)].

3rd and 4th place: Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Pankaj Advai (PSPB) 4-0 [64-35, 62-28, 68-10, 71-35 (b-47)].

Ladies: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Vidya Pillai (Tamil Nadu) 3-0 [79-37, 75-15, 69-33].

3rd and 4th place: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt M Chitra 2-0 [59-24, 49-40].

Semi-finals: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Meenal Thakur (Maharashtra [ Images ]) 3-0 [57-24, 67-51, 55-20] Vidya Pillai (Tamil Nadu) bt M Chitra (Karnataka) 3-2 [30-42, 61-41, 40-75, 47-08, 69-27].