Judith Walia breezes through two rounds

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, JAN. 31. Prima donna of Karnataka green baize sport Judith Walia struck true to her task. The petite lady breezed through her two rounds in group `B' with nonchalance on the opening day of the 8th women's National snooker championship that got underway at the KSBA here today.

The championship earlier in the day, the Golden Jubilee year of the Association, was inaugurated by its former president and now patron Mr. Haji Jaffer, amidst colourful ceremony.

If Farah Khan, the defending champion looked a wee bit lethargic in her 65-48, 45-29 win over statemate Asha Vaswani, Judith showed no mercy on Soumini Srinivas of Tamil Nadu in the morning winning 63-20, 59-27 and then later in the day coming out of a slight slump midway though the second frame to win 60-51, 49-34 against Jagruti Patel.

Jagruti, wife of Nalin Patel, failed to capitalise on the openings in the second frame to give way, more so in the second frame.

Karnataka's T.V.Sri Devi messed up her game against Usha Khandelwal of Maharashtra. A missed pink in the second frame spelt her doom after having pocketed the first quite convincingly at 42-27. In the next two, especially after the missed pink Sri Devi just could not get herself focussed and lost badly 34-60 in the second and then conceded her tie while trailing in the third, after two missing on two visits.

Results: Group A: Farah Khan (Kar) bt Asha Vaswani (Kar) 65-48, 45-29; Kamaladevi Chandra Babu (TN) bt M.V.J. Fernandes (Kar) 48- 27, 49- 38; M.V. J. Fernandes (Kar) bt ASha Vaswani (Kar) 49-29, 36-37, 52-21.

Group B: Judith Walia (Kar) bt Soumini Srinivas (TN) 63-20, 59- 27; Jagruti Patel (Mah) bt Renu Bharkatia (MP) 35-49, 66-19, 77- 28; Renu Bharkatia (MP) bt Soumini Srinivas (TN) 48-10, 54-24; Judith Walia (Kar) bt Jagruti Patel (Mah) 60- 51, 49-34.

Group C: Varsha Mazumdar (Mah) bt SOnal Mamoowala (Mah) 57-03, 79-38; Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt Sadhana Patel (Kar) 66-23, 50-40; Sonal Mamoowala (Mah) bt Sadhana Patel (Kar) 47-40, 21-75, 42-38; Varsha Mazumdar (Mah) bt Ashwini Puranik (MP) 57-37, 51-37.

Group D: Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt Seema Desai (WB) 56-24, 24-39, 49-27; Ritu Srivastava (MP) bt Nilofer (TN) 55-25, 51-23.

Group E: Pooja Galundia (Raj) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 38-31, 54-52; Sangita Hemchand (Mah) bt Indira Hegde (Kar) 62-27, 50-30; Indira Hegde (Kar) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 52- 18, 46-28.

Group F: Aditi Puranik (MP) w/o Amrita Mohapatra (Ori); Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt Chitra (Kar) 62-25, 51-45; Chitra (Kar) bt Aditi Puranik (MP) 45-21, 19-52, 54-40.

Group G: Anuj Thakur (Mah) bt B. Lavanya (TN) 66-2, 69-9; Usha Khandelwal (Mah) bt T.V. Sridevi (Kar) 27-42, 60-39, 69- conceded); T.V. Sridevi (Kar) bt B. Lavanya (TN) 47-18, 59-10.

Group H: Uma Devi (Kar) bt Meenal Bairagi (Mah) 14-49, 51-35, 55- 44; Uma Devi (Kar) bt Bhanumathi K (Kar) 66-38, 49-29; Cynthia Mukherjee (WB) bt R. Draupadi (Kar) 61-63, 54-14, 54-8.

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