Date:02/02/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/02/02/stories/2004020205651900.htm

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Pankaj makes century break, enters final

By Kirti Patil

GWALIOR, FEB. 1. Pankaj Advani seized a long pause before breaking into his own as he cracked the first century break - a polished 114 - on way to the final in the 28th Junior National snooker championship at the Jiwaji University here on Sunday.

After an 83 in the morning against Gagandeep Makkar, Advani took little extra time to charge himself against J. Varun Kumar. His tentative play continued in patches before Varun sold a red ball at the bottom table.

The opening seemed a minor one, but Advani began with the green and then shifted his focus on the black ball. Though he had eight blacks in all, Advani made sure to use the green ball midway through his break to transpose his striker's position. Two pinks later on cleared his path and he went for table clearance, only to see the black wobble in the top pocket. He won 82-40, 87-48, 35-68, 121-0.

Nevertheless, this century has come at such an opportune time that Advani could peak rightly for the defence of his title. In the four-player final, Advani plays Dhruv Varma, Sourav Kothari and Aditya Mehta, in an all-play-all league.

Though making it to the final wasn't as rosy as it seemed. That is a just indication of how tough the competition has become with ever more youngsters taking to the sport.

Tamil Nadu's J. Varun Kumar wouldn't have given himself any chance against Advani, but he added a vital detail to his resume by taking one frame from the World champion. In the first frame, which got mired in the safety play as the bunch of red balls took an awkward at the left of the top table. Advani had two decent breaks of 27 and 20 through the colour series later in the frame as Varun Kumar excelled in keeping Advani subdued.

In the second he was down by more than 40 points when he rallied with breaks of 32 and 23 and followed those with table-clearing 31. Varun Kumar, however, had some other plans in the third frame. Taking that one 68-35 should give a good boost to his morale.

While Advani was made to work little harder for his semifinal win, others were also not spared by their respective opponents. Second-seeded Sourav Kothari made an excellent start against Kiran Chawla but like Advani, he got stuck in the third frame. So did Dhruv Varma but his consistency carried him against an erratic Wasim Ahmed.

India number three Aditya Mehta, who was given a scare by Kanishk Jhanjharia in the quarterfinals, sailed through in three straight frames in the semifinals against M. S. Arun.

The results: Semifinals: Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt J. Varun Kumar (TN) 88-40, 87-48, 35-68, 121-0; Dhruv Varma (Pun) bt Wasim Ahmed (TN) 61-27, 53-41, 38-65, 46-27, 65-26; Aditya Mehta (Mah) bt M. S. Arun (Kar) 98-22, 84-38, 54-40; Sourav Kothari (Ben) bt Kiran Chawla (Kar) 56-30, 74-1, 11-76, 59-36. Quarterfinals: Pankaj Advani bt Gagandeep Makkar (Chd) 83-0, 92-41, 91-0; J. Varun Kumar bt Hem Shroff (Guj) 58-47, 72-44, 78-44; Wasim Ahmed bt Barneet Kohli (Ben) 26-58, 44-43, 60-53, 49-42; Dhruv Varma bt Rahul Agarwal (MP) 57-5, 64-22, 48-41; Aditya Mehta bt Kanishk Jhanjharia (MP) 65-15, 50-37, 49-35; M. S. Arun bt Lucky Vatnani (AP) 20-56, 10-59, 59-2, 60-27, 69-57; Kiran Chawla bt Sumit Talwar (Chd) 60-53, 14-65, 60-22, 74-13; Sourav Kothari bt Mohit Puri (HP) 60-29, 64-23, 55-36.