The Hindu : Chitra sneaks into knock-out stage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 23, 2002

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Chitra sneaks into knock-out stage

By Kirti Patil

JAMMU DEC 22. Billiards champion Anuja Thakur showed her fine touch with snooker also, and moved a step closer for yet another double.

The 2001 double champion, Anuja, played immaculately to top the Group `D' and is drawn to play M. Chitra of Karnataka in the quarterfinal, in the 11th Women's National snooker championship at the Hari Niwas Palace here on Sunday.

Anuja scored a crucial 2-1 win against the former champion Heena Khandelwal of Maharashtra, in what turned out to be the group decider. Heena took advantage of snooks in the first frame, but Anuja rallied brilliantly and crushed Heena with her consistent potting.

Anuja won 30-58, 63-17, 57-18, as Heena's repeated attempts of snooking the ball failed when she potted the cue ball. Anuja later swept aside Seema Desai of Bengal 2-0 to maintain her unbeaten record.

Last year's semifinalist, Chitra, was the luckiest of all when she sneaked into the knock-out stage after a three-way tie for the two quarterfinal spots from Group `B'.

Chitra had three wins and a loss as does Ashwini Puranik of Madhya Pradesh and Neeta Sanghvi of Maharashtra. Neeta topped the group following her better frame score with Chitra was tied with Ashwini for the second place. Chitra entered the quarterfinals as she had defeated Ashwini in the league stage.

Earlier in the morning, Chitra had made a cardinal mistake when she missed black ball, in a ball-to-ball finish against Neeta Sanghvi. Chitra had a lead of 68-61 after potting the pink and she just had to pot the black.

She tried to fine cut the black which was lying just outside the middle pocket. The miss cost her seven points and the frame was tied 68-68, forcing the referee J. Xavier to call for a toss.

Neeta tried to argue that she could pot the black from the position, but in such a situation black was returned to its spot. Chitra won the toss and played for safety, but after her second safety shot Neeta sunk the black from a very difficult position to win the match, 54-45, 75-68.

Elsewhere, R. Uma Devi, runner-up of the last Nationals in Ahmedabad, made it to the quarterfinals with an all-win record. She meets Tamil Nadu's Soumini Srinivas, who qualified as second player from Group `C'. Anuja's sister, Meenal, who was the first player to book the quarter berth, won both her matches to top the group.

In the junior men's billiards qualifying, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh claimed the berths for the main draw.

Aparajit Mittal defeated Pankaj Devgan of Madhya Pradesh 359-326, in the second round of the qualifying tournament. Rohit Sharma defeated Karan Sharda of Maharashtra 370-355 to become the second qualifier.

The results:

Group A: R. Uma Devi (Kar) bt Vidya Pillai (TN)52-44, 74-45; Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) bt Neetu Bali (J and K) 71-41, 49-17; Vidya w.o Ayesha Aga (Mah); Uma w.o Ayesha.

Group B: Neelam Mittal (MP) w.o Ragini Singh (J and K); Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt M. Chitra (Kar) 54-45, 75-68; Chitra bt Neelam 63-19, 39-59, 49-21; Shreya Kothari (Ben) w.o Ragini; Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt Neeta 69-53, 71-53; Neeta bt Shreya 65-20, 58-13; Chitra w.o Ragini; Ashwini bt Neelam 45-35, 47-57, 60-30.

Group C: Soumini Srinivas (TN) bt Neeta Kothari (Ben) 20-54, 44-22, 66-23; Jagruti Patel (Mah) bt Ritu Srivastava (MP) 70-30, 73-29; Soumini bt Kamala C. Babu (TN) 31-52, 50-32, 45-37; Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Ritu 74-14, 45-13; Jagruti bt Neeta 56-25, 54-25; Meenal bt Soumini 65-22, 59-46; Ritu bt Kamala 46-41, 56-24.

Group D: Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Heena Khandelwal (Mah) 30-58, 63-17, 57-18; T. V. Sridevi (Kar) bt Geetika Kathuria (Har) 64-4, 60-20; Seema Desai (Ben) bt Geetika 49-9, 47-38; Heena bt Sridevi 31-56, 57-10, 59-27; Heena bt Geetika 51-11, 65-45; Anuja bt Seema 57-36, 57-31.

Quarterfinal pairings: Uma v Soumini; Chitra v Anuja; Meenal v Vidya; Heena v Neeta.

Junior men (Qualifying):

Billiards: Second round: Aparajit Mittal (Mah) bt Pankaj Devgan (MP) 359-326; Rohit Sharma (UP) bt Karan Sharda (Mah) 370-355.

Snooker:

Second round: Vaibhav Punwatkar (Mah) bt Rohit Sharma (UP) 66-37, 66-27, 79-38, 59-46; Vishal Aggarwal (AP) bt Kaushal Agarwal (Kar) 38-57, 67-25, 75-40, 78-8; Sunny Chaddha (Del) bt Tamil Nambi (TN) 60-42, 51-41, 81-16; P. R. Shivkumar (Kar) bt Bhavesh Jain (Mah) 71-57, 36-52, 69-29, 57-49; Younis Kuchey (J and K) bt R. Karthik (TN) 49-12, 76-55, 49-84, 59-33; Akshay Gohad (Mah) 52-29, 60-13, 49-36.

First round: Amandeep Singh (Del) bt Umar Jann (J and K) 47-66, 63-9, 24-63, 70-60, 43-31; Karan Sharda (Mah) bt M. Arun (TN) 43-73, 64-23, 72-61, 38-64, 53-41; Shivkumar bt Ishan Sharma (J and K) 73-9, 67-35, 77-35; Deep Singh (MP) bt Shabri Ram (Kar) 60-36, 51-60, 46-52, 65-52, 63-20; Vishal bt Somesh Turki (J and K) 86-2, 68-50, 81-12; Bhavesh bt Shivam Arora (Bih) 47-57, 61-36, 71-14, 59-26.

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