The Hindu : Advani, Joshi score contrasting wins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 07, 2003

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Advani, Joshi score contrasting wins

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI AUG. 6. National champion Pankaj Advani combined five black and three blue balls to make a delightful break of 63, the highest so far of the tournament, on way to beating Mukesh Rehani in a group `A' league match of the NSCI all-India snooker tournament here on Wednesday.

Advani took it easy before the all-important match against formidable Devendra Joshi. "I was striking well, but I missed a few gettable pots,'' said Advani after winning 4-1.

After winning the first frame 99-19 with breaks of 30 and 43; Advani added yet another substantial compilation of 48 with a pink and five black balls. Rehani pulled one back but Advani gave not much room.

His break of 63 came in the fifth frame and he was on way to clearing the table. After potting the green at the bottom, he got the brown placed in a ticklish position. He attempted nicely, but the brown ball hit the top cushion and remained on the table. Advani won 99-19, 73-51, 34-71, 71-25, 86-17.

While Advani had little trouble in getting past Rehani, Joshi was given a scare by Rishabh Thukral.

Down one frame, Joshi played one of the best match of his snooker career in beating his Delhi rival.

At 3-3, Joshi came up with a break of 62 with brown, seven pinks and two blacks for a 19-69, 74-14, 58-50, 22-69, 64-52, 8-97, 71-27.

Meanwhile in the other groups, Kamal Chawla progressed to the quarterfinals following his third straight win in the group `D' league.

The other qualifier from group `D' will be decided from Manan Chandra, Rupesh Shah and Rafath Habib.

The results: Group A: Devendra Joshi bt Rishabh Thukral 4-3 (19-69, 74-14, 58-50, 22-69, 64-52, 8-97, 71-27); Pankaj Advani bt Mukesh Rehani 4-1 (99-19, 73-51, 34-71, 71-25, 86-17).

Group B: Yasin Merchant bt Sourav Kothari 4-0 (73-62, 63-61, 82-0, 78-55).

Group C: Sarang Shroff bt Siddharth Parikh 4-2 (69-23, 8-63, 73-37, 60-73, 51-19, 76-6); Sarang Shroff bt Anuj Uppal 4-0 (77-41, 66-35, 59-22, 60-30).

Group D: Manan Chandra bt Rupesh Shah 4-0 (78-32, 91-26, 76-0, 75-45); Kamal Chawla bt Rupesh Shah 4-1 (44-58, 63-15, 66-43, 64-25, 57-53).

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