Anuja, Meenal, Umadevi and Farah Khan breeze through

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, FEB. 5. The sisters from Maharashtra, Anuja Thakur and Meenal Bhairagi, along with R. Umadevi and defending champion Farah Khan, both from Karnataka, romped home into the semifinals of the eighth National women's billiards tournament at the KSBA hall here on Saturday.

Both Anuja and Meenal turned in a scintillating display to demolish Soumini Srinivas of Tamil Nadu and Pooja Galundia of Rajasthan respectively with straight 3-0 verdicts. Farah takes on Anuja while Meenal will play Umadevi in the semifinals slotted for 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Farah Khan, the defending champion sure looks to seal her stamp before bidding farewell to the game. And this was evident in both her pre-quarterfinal demolition of Judith Walia (156-64, 140-71) and later in the evening while brushing aside the lukewarm challenge from the grand old lady of Indian `green baize' Kamaladevi Chandra Babu of Tamil Nadu.

Pooja Galundia the recently crowned snooker champion did not have a good day. Admitting that her opponent - Meenal Bhairagi - played a `superb' game while her own potting let her down badly, Pooja quipped with a wry smile, ``it's not always your day.''

Meenal, who had made it to the semifinals of the snooker event as well, and accepted as a better billiards player, played true to her self. Consistency was her hallmark and this she dished out in good measure to overpower Pooja.

Umadevi too came out with her guns blazing against Sridevi. Steady potting with breaks of 31 in the first frame and a few 20's in the second saw Umadevi 2-0 up in quick time. In the third, however, Sridevi seemed to have touched a purple patch. With breaks of 30, 21, 24 in three successive visits, Sridevi nudged ahead and although Umadevi came up with a 54 she just could not catch up.

Sridevi's form was like the proverbial flash in the pan as Umadevi once again decimated her opponent with high calibre potting for a 102-55 verdict in the fourth frame.

The results:

Women: billiards: quarterfinals: Farah Khan (Kar) bt Kamaladevi Chandra Babu (TN) 143-68, 107-75, 162-64; Meenal Bhairagi (Mah) bt Pooja Galundia (Raj) 129-34, 114-53, 157-67; Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Lakshmi Suryanarayan (Kar) 100-74, 136-66, 133-88; R. Umadevi (Kar) bt T.V. Sridevi (Kar) 107-42, 99-45, 77-113, 102- 55.

Pre-quarterfinals: Farah Khan bt Judith Walia 156-64, 140-71; Kamaladevi Chandra Babu bt Sadhana Patel (Kar) 65-53, 74-34; Anuja Thakur bt Soumini Srinivas (TN) 124-70, 115-57; Lakshmi Suryanarayan bt M.V.J. Fernandes (Kar) 82-69, 95- 45; Meenal Bhairagi (Mah) bt Renu Bharkatiya (Raj) 102-57, 101- 74; Pooja Galundia bt Ritu Srivastava (MP) 123-21, 111-38; Umadevi w/o Usha Khandelwal; T.V. Sridevi bt Ashwini Puranik (MP) 117-30, 71-76, 64-63.

Men: snooker: qualifying pre-quarterfinals: D. Rajkumar (Kar) bt S.A. Saleem (TN) 61-38, 89-16, 23-96, 84-61, 52-45; I.H. Manudev (Kar) bt S.A. Faheen (TN) 64-49, 36- 69, 70-25, 77-22, 58-43; Antim Sanghi (Rlys) bt Rishab Thukral (Del) 59-53, 62-13, 52-39, 53-31; Manoj Kothari (WB) bt J.S. Dawar (Mah) 82-36, 44-70, 22- 62, 45-36, 61-29, 64-38; Nikhil Ootam (Mah) bt Kamaraj (TN) 58-6, 56-57, 54-19, 72-16, 33-53, 80- 38; Omar Balsara (Mah) bt Syed Habib (TN) 56-31, 54-67, 62-15, 53-50, 56-11; Rafath Habib (Rlys) bt Ritesh Shah (Mah) 38-55, 73- 22, 69-62, 57-48, 11-75, 67-37; Nadeem Ahmed (TN) bt R. Logannathan (TN) 57-11, 76-27, 49-69, 6- 79, 76-46, 11-59, 67-58.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Rajesh, Harisankar leap into record books
Next     : Korchnoi, Akopian cynosure of all eyes