Maharashtra women hog limelight

By M.C. Raman

Chennai, FEB. 12 Mrs. Pooja Galundia of Rajasthan, the defending champion, moved into the quarterfinals without being stretched by Uma Devi of Karnataka, winning 54-30, 49-37. But the day belonged to the Maharashtra women who grabbed four slots in the last eight stage of the Khel.com National women's snooker championship at Wild West, Spencer Plaza, here on Monday.

The quarterfinal line-up is: Pooja Galundia v Kamala C. Babu (TN), Chitra (Kar) v Varsha Mazumdar (Maha), Neeta Sanghvi (Maha) v Anuja Thakur (Maha) and Heena Khandelwal (Maha) v winner of Jagriti Patel (Maha) v Vidya Pillai (TN)

Neeta Sanghvi of Maharashtra rallied from a one-frame deficit to eliminate Judy Walia of Karnataka at 19-65, 47-26, 39- 30. Judy made a flying start with a break of 38 and she hardly gave any chance for Neeta to do anything in the first frame. But that turned out to be the only bright patch in Judy's game.

Neeta was not rattled and cashed in on Judy's sudden struggle in potting. There was no rhythm in the Karnataka player's game and Neeta steadied herself to take the second. It was a bit close in the third, but Neeta managed to clinch it.

Varsha Mazumdar of Maharashtra picked up her game straightaway against T.V. Sridevi of Karnataka and entered the quarterfinals with a 77-10, 59-23 win. Varsha's highest break was of 30 and she was sharp, potting pretty confidently.

Pooja's highest break was 15, but still Uma Devi was not able to cash in on her struggle to put her on the mat. Kamala C. Babu of Tamil Nadu eliminated last year's semifinalist Meenal Thakur of Maharashtra 71-62, 51-37 in a match in which she was highly consistent right through. Pankaj Advani of Karnataka recorded two good breaks of 31 and 64 in his victory over Nitin Gupta of Punjab and R. Thukral entered the junior quarterfinals, beating Aishwar Arya of MP.

The results (snooker):

Women: pre-quarterfinals: Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt Seema Desai (Ben) 66-40, 66-8; Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Renu Bharkatia (MP) 73- 16, 56-37; M. Chitra (Kar) bt Sangeetha Hemchand (Mah) 67-35, 42- 32; Varsha Mazumdar (Mah) bt T.V. Sridevi (Kar) 77-10, 59-23.

Round robin: Gr. A: Pooja Galundia (Raj) bt Seema Desai (Ben) 56- 14, 58-40; Gr. B: Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt T.V. Sridevi (Kar) 45-32, 46-30; Gr. D: Varsha Majumdar (Mah) bt Renu Bharkatia (MP) 63-36, 83- 26; Gr. E: M. Chitra (Kar) bt Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) 41- 29, 12-49, 40-30; Gr. F: Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Uma Devi (Kar) 60- 29, 48-41; Gr. G: Jagruti Patel (Maha) bt Kamala C. Babu (TN) 63- 37, 50-45; Gr. H: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 48-23, 56-44.

Junior boys: preliminary rounds: Brijesh Damani (Ben) bt Mahesh Jagdale (Mah) 47-29, 36-55, 71-2, 53-46; Nitin Gupta (Pun) bt Rahul Bhargava (Raj) 96-55, 64-26, 44-64, 80-29; Siddharth Parikh (Mah) bt Brijesh Damani (Ben) 61-44, 76- 35, 69-36; Harit D. Parikh (Guj) bt Dhruv Varuna (Pun) 69-43, 13- 46, 62-30, 61-44; Rishab Thukral (Del) bt Aishwar Arya (MP) 61- 74, 52-13, 75-7, 78-27; Dhruv Patel (Guj) bt Jagjit Singh (HP) 69-17, 51-10, 62- 27; Siddharth Parikh (Mah) bt Harit Parikh (Guj) 37-74, 58-4, 50- 54, 73-45, 51-41; Ritesh Shah (Mah) bt Suvir Sethi (Har) 65-39, 57-47, 83-32; Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Nitin Gupta (Pun) 36-54, 63- 24, 61-21, 95-0

Men: qualifying round: Prem Prakash (TN) bt Sunil Sharma (Kar) 38-77, 72-27, 79-15, 71-37; M.C. Manoj (TN) bt Vadi Raj (Kar) 74- 41, 46-48, 86-1, 26-59, 58-48; Arvind Savur (Kar) bt Pandia (Mah) 99-18, 70-11, 56-21; V. Anand (Kar) bt Pranav Jain (TN) 53-19, 70-68, 62-49; Mahesh Jagdale (Mah) bt Surendar (TN) 72-74, 53-68, 75-14, 65-34, 77-7; K. Ranjan (TN) bt Venkatesan (Rlys) 14-76, 59-22, 58-34, 75-60; Antim Singh (Rlys) bt Mudabir Khan (Kar) 99- 9, 59-60, 75-50; S.K. Jagtiani (Rlys) bt Rajesh Bothra (TN) 63- 20, 98-56, 73-37; R. Loganathan (TN) bt Lucky Vetrani (AP) 24-70, 59-39, 65-37, 69-57.

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