Chennai, July 12 - Former national champion Alok Kumar (Petroleum Sports) had to bank on his vast experience to beat challenger Rafat Habib (Railways) 3-2 in the Madras Gymkhana Club's All India invitational snooker tournament here Sunday night.

Alok, after winning the opening two frames, dropped the next two before taking the decider aided by small but useful breaks. Alok went on to post his third win in the preliminary league by defeating Nigel Nazar 3-0.

Meanwhile, former Asian champion Yasin Merchant of Mumbai underlined his form with a 100 clearance Chennai's Dilip Kumar 3-1 Saturday and followed it up with a 3-0 win against Harpreet Singh (Chennai) Sunday.

Also securing a century break (122) were Varun Kumar though he lost 2-3 to Habib and Sourav Kothari (Petroleum) who slotted a 131 while defeating Harpreet Singh 3-0.