The Hindu : Memorable day for Pankaj

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 30, 2002

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Memorable day for Pankaj

By Our Sports Reporter

JAMMU DEC. 29. Pankaj Advani won the 27th Junior National billiards title defeating the Bengal youngster Sourav Kothari on Sunday. Pankaj won 1292-667 with two century breaks and seven half-centuries. The title stayed with Pankaj and the Karnataka cueist took one step ahead in his quest to defend his snooker title also at the Hari Niwas Palace here.

The two players hovered around 500-odd points after two hours. Pankaj had a lead of just 45 points, but his brilliance came to the fore in the final one hour.

The scores were 548-503 when Pankaj decided to break the virtual deadlock. Till then, he had breaks of 59, 117 and 73, while Sourav had managed to keep the pace through 90, 60, 66, 51 and 53. Sourav had produced 60 and 66 in his successive visits to develop some interest in the match.

The first set of Junior snooker final league matches also got underway this afternoon. As usual, Pankaj won his first league tie by blanking Sourav Kothari 4-0, in a best-of-seven-frame match. Pankaj won 59-37, 63-37, 105-16, 62-11, scripting a hefty break of 94.

The Senior snooker qualifying tournament commenced with Sourav Kothari making it to the semifinal stage. Sourav defeated H. Prabhat of Karnataka, 58-36, 74-15, 75-22 and is just one win from reaching the main draw.

The results: Billiards (final league): Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Sourav Kothari (Ben) 1292-667; Rishabh Thakkar (Mah) bt Brijesh Damani (Ben) 1055-708. Snooker (final league): Pankaj Advani bt Sourav Kothari 59-37, 63-37, 105-16, 62-11; Aditya Mehta (Mah) bt Rishab Thakkar 61-38, 67-12, 64-10, 91-40.

Senior qualifying snooker (Quarterfinals): Sourav Kothari bt H. Prabhat (Kar) 58-36, 74-15, 75-22. Second round: Siddharth Parekh (Rly) bt Mohammed Mueen (TN) 70-17, 78-34, 57-21; Munish Kukreja (MP) bt Karan Kapoor (J and K) 57-70, 86-35, 59-17, 63-25; Karan Sharda (Mah) bt M. Bhaskaran (TN) 56-23, 70-31, 85-62; Ramesh Tiwari (Ben) bt Shiv Kumar (Kar) 59-41, 62-9, 31-57, 51-56, 62-35; Anuj Uppal (Del) bt Krishan Kumar (UP) 57-50, 37-50, 81-11, 42-59, 74-15; Varun Taneja (Rly) bt Aparajit Mittal (Mah) 48-16, 52-42, 95-10; Rishab Thakkar bt Sunil Sharma (Kar) 59-42, 79-1, 69-40; M. Senthil (TN) bt I. S. Malik (UP) 62-42, 78-36, 60-51; Sourav Kothari bt Ajay Pal Singh (J and K) 74-2, 67-32, 79-7; H. Prabhat bt Arun Gulati (J and K) 40-70, 55-44, 50-46, 46-34; Aditya Mehta bt Bhupinder Singh (Del) 62-39, 70-16, 63-22; Manoj Verma (Bih) bt Shyamal Sharma (Bih) 66-29, 54-17, 56-23; Umar Himayun (J and K) bt Shabri Ram (Kar) 64-40, 65-26, 34-66, 73-10; Jaideep Manocha (J and K) bt Thandeshwar (Kar) 56-46, 59-37, 56-20. First round: Umar Himayun w.o Sanjeev Sharma (Raj); Manoj Verma w.o NisheetPrakash (UP); J. Varun (TN) bt Irfan (J and K) 61-14, 92-10, 26-39, 78-25; Aparajit Mittal bt Kuldeep Sharma (J and K) 56-41, 49-40, 48-85, 58-34.

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