The Hindu : Ding upsets Manan Chandra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 12, 2002

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Ding upsets Manan Chandra

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA APRIL 11 . Junhui Ding's appetite for perfection produced yet another casualty up in the hierarchy as the Chinese junior champion consumed the tournament's highest seed, Manan Chandra of India, in the semifinals of fourth Asian under-21 snooker championship here at the Calcutta Swimming Club on Thursday.

Ding will take on the winner of the other semifinals, which is headed for a late finish seeing a keen contest between Thailand's Pramual Janthat and Keem Ho Moh of Malaysia.

Little-known Ding, who received the seventh seeding in the preliminary league stage, gave a grand exposition of his superlative abilities and emerged as the most promising junior in a field of 24. Returning a 100 per cent performance average in the league, Ding joined the elites in the knockout stage improving his seeding three notches.

The Chinese player's progress continued unhindered in the pre-quarterfinals, where he produced yet another 4-0 result. He conceded his first frame meeting his compatriot and fifth seeded Pengfei Tian in the quarterfinals on Thursday morning. In an all-Chinese battle, Ding lost the first two frames but reclaimed his touch and won the next five frames, recording the highest break of 96 in the sixth frame of the match, to win the tie.

Meeting Chandra in the semifinals, Ding produced a menacing show of precision and control right from the beginning. After Chandra had floundered on the opening frame and failed to pot an easy black, Ding made full use of the opportunity and produced a clearance break of 71 to set himself into the winning mode.

The second frame also saw a tentative Chandra missing a crucial pot in his fifth visit to leave his Chinese opponent with all the advantages. Ding bettered his show and exacted a break of 84 for the second frame and continued in a similar strain in the third frame recording a decisive break of 64.

In the fourth frame, the Indian tried to claw back into the contest but found his efforts failing him as he had to stop at a meagre break of 17, his highest in the match, before Ding annexed the frame with two breaks of 38 and 42.

The fifth was nothing unusual as Ding continued recording comparatively modest breaks while Chandra faltered, unable to make requisite openings. The final result of 71-16, 94-9, 82-9, 102-25 and 77-8 that Ding recorded in his favour clearly spelt out Chandra's inability to perform under pressure.

Advani loses to Pramual

Indian junior champion Pankaj Advani departed in the quarterfinals losing out to Thailand's Pramual Janthat in a marathon contest that stretched to the decider. Advani enjoyed the initial advantage and won the first two frames but lost his touch midway through to lose the next four frames to Janthat.

The Indian stung back in the seventh frame and won it with two neat breaks of 48 and 37. He won the eighth frame to draw level 4-4. Janthat proved stronger in the end and won the decider that saw both the contestants playing it safe with a sequel of snookers. The Thai player took greater chances and succeeded in earning decent breaks while the Indian floundered on crucial points.

In the remaining quarterfinals, unheralded Keem Ho Moh produced yet another upset to beat compatriot and seventh seeded Mun Kit Thean, 5-2, to progress to the semifinals where he will meet Janthat.

The results (prefix denotes seedings: semifinals: 1-Manan Chandra (Ind) lost to 4-Jinhui Ding Chn) 0-5 (16-71, 9-94, 9-82, 25-102, 8-77). Quarterfinals: 1-Manan Chandra (Ind) bt 8-Habib Sabah Mahmood (Bah) 5-1 (43-70, 71-9, 64-29, 70-19, 82-33, 58-9); 4-Junhui Ding (Chn) bt Pengfei Tian (Chn) 5-2 (8-82, 43-63, 96-7, 76-16, 79-37, 101-30, 106-9); 3-Pramual Janthat (Thai) bt 6-Pankaj Advani (Ind) 5-4 (36-77, 61-62, 66-41, 62-24, 57-46, 64-43, 14-102, 23-64, 58-21); 7-Mun Kit Thean (Mal) lost to Keem Ho Moh (Mal) 2-5 (62-36, 30-76, 63-49, 27-60, 20-60, 40-66, 41-61).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport