Sport
-
Billiards & Snooker
Pankaj Advani in his element
By Kirti Patil
AHMEDABAD, JAN. 15. Three-time Junior National billiards champion Pankaj Advani scored the day's highest break of 70 dishing out an impressive show in his only second appearance in the Senior National snooker championship, at the Sports Club of Gujarat here on Tuesday.
The 16-year-old Advani crushed veteran Mohd. Naeem of Uttar Pradesh 4-0 as he made a strong bid to qualify from the Group `C'. Advani, who represents Karnataka, needed just three visits in the opening frame to clean up the table.
At 7-10, Advani came up with an unfinished break of 70 as Naeem looked on. The rest was easy as the prodigal cueist comfortably won the next three frames. Touted as India's best prospect for the future, Advani has direct entries into all the four events, junior and senior billiards and snooker championship.
As several top players received walkovers in their first round preliminary league matches, the opening day belonged to the juniors. Delhi youngster Rishab Thukral came up with a dominating performance and won 4-1 against Richard Swing of Uttar Pradesh.
Alok Kumar, who settled for the runner-up position in the 2001 Chennai edition, was stretched to five frames by Neeraj Kumar of Bihar. He won 69-38, 59-32, 17-68, 73-30, 73-51.
The results: Preliminary league: Group A: Yasin Merchant (Mah) w/o A. Singhania (Meg); Rishab Thukral (Del) bt Richard Swing (UP) 61-24, 98-14, 70-9, 31-49, 93-21; Group B: Jasvinder Singh (Raj) bt Amit Saboo (Mah) 61-28, 9-67, 61-41, 58-36, 53-29; Alok Kumar (Pun) bt Neeraj Kumar (Bih) 69- 38, 59-32, 17-68, 73-30, 73-51; Pradeep (AP) bt Dinesh Kukrreja (HP) 71-35, 62-33, 74-38, 50-42; Group C: Sanjeev Gupta (J and K) w/o Atul Chowal (Raj); Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Mohd. Naeem (UP) 77-10, 71-28, 73-11, 83-8; Rupesh Shah (Guj) w/o Sunny Bhalla (Har); Group D: Manan Chandra (Del) w/o Manish Srivastava (Chg); Shankar Rao (AP) bt Hamsad Desai (Guj) 75-27, 40-69, 55-14, 60-53, 52-46; Group E: S. A. Saleem (TN) w/o Samar Bhalla (Har); Group G: Nalin Patel (Mah) w/o C. Chowdhary (Meg); Group H: Antim Singhi (Rly) bt Rakesh Kumar (Bih) 63-33, 67-16, 86- 4, 83-12; Harish Gandhi (MP) bt S. A. Faeem (TN) 58-63, 23-55, 71-9, 52-5, 66-14, 72-8.
Junior billiards (qualifying): Third round: Kapil Punjabi (Mah) bt Gunjan Patel (Guj) 484-314; Aditya Shah (Mah) bt Vijay Kumar (AP) 384-255; Vaibhav Punwatkar (Mah) bt Rishi Ramaya (Mah) 533-282; Vishal Madan (Rly) bt Sheel Shah (Mah) 678-254.
Second round: Rishi Ramaya (Mah) bt Vishal Choksi (Guj) 305-135; Vaibhav Punwatkar (Mah) bt Karan Sarda (Mah) 526-181.
Monday's results: Billiards: Men (qualifying): Final round: Siddharth Parikh (Rly) bt B. Bhaskar (Kar) 470-441; Antim Singhi (Rly) bt Parthiv Zaveri (Rly) 563-275; Rafat Habib (Rly) bt Arun Agarwal (Mah) 574-315; Shyam Jagtiani (Rly) bt V. Subramanian (Mah) 429-414.
Second round: Shyam Jagtiani (Rly) bt A. S. Habibullah (Kar) 787-189; V. Subramanian (Mah) bt Farooq Ibrahim (AP) 485-374.
Junior (qualifying): Second round: Kapil Punjabi (Mah) bt Bhavesh Jain (Mah) 507-259; Gunjan Patel (Guj) bt Tushar Balsara (Mah) 299-293; Vijay Kumar (AP) bt Prashant Soni (Guj) 409-217; Aditya Shah (Mah) bt Sahil Kedia (Mah) 355- 265; Sheel Shah (Mah) bt Aparajit Mittal 424-351.
First round: Aditya Shah (Mah) bt Prabhu Kishore (AP) 461-276; Rishi Ramaya (Mah) bt Vineet Kanjani (AP) 416-399; Karan Sharda (Mah) bt A. Imran Khan (UP) 301-292; Vishal Madan bt Brijes Damani (Ben) 588-364; Aparajit Mittal (Mah) bt Varun Gogia (AP) 387-357.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Sport
|
