Date:13/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/13/stories/2007121362702400.htm

Sport

Memorable day for Shoaib

V.V. Subrahmanyam

— Photo: H. Satish

TIMELY PRECISION: Shoaib Khan of West Bengal, who won the sub-junior snooker title.

HYDERABAD: For 17-year-old Shoaib Khan from West Bengal, it was an evening to remember. Making his maiden final appearance, Shoaib got the better of Ruvin d’Souza 46-56, 52-69, 54-41, 42-21, 48-44 to clinch the sub-juniors’ snooker title in the National billiards and snooker championships for seniors, juniors, sub-juniors and women at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

Marathon battle

In a marathon three-hour battle, it was all about display of precision at the right time. Exactly what Shoaib did in the crucial deciding frame after tying the frame scores at 2-all.

“It was a lucky win for me and I don’t think I found the touch even in the third frame. On the other hand, it was Ruvin who missed some easy pink in-offs which brought me back back into the game,” said Shoaib.

Sethi vs. Advani

Meanwhile, the big guns of seniors billiards — Geet Sethi, Pankaj Advani, Rupesh Shah and Ashok Shandilya — cruised into the semifinals with impressive wins.

The eight-time world champion Geet was at his best, notching up breaks of 287, 286, 123 and 101 in his facile 1135-625 win over B. Bhaskar, while Pankaj Advani recorded an equally emphatic 1218-761 win over Saurav Kothari with breaks of 200 and 154.

The semifinal line-up is: Sethi vs Advani and Ashok Shandilya vs Rupesh Shah.

The results:

Sub-juniors: snooker (final): Shoaib Khan (WB) bt Ruvin D’Souza (Mum) 46-56, 52-69, 54-51, 42-21, 48-44.

Senior billiards: Quarterfinals: Geet Sethi bt B. Bhaskar 1135-625; Rupesh Shah bt Dhruv Sitwala 620-521; Ashok Shandilya bt Md. Asim 860-518; Pankaj Advani bt Saurav Kothari 1218-761.

Women: Snooker (best-of-five frames): Quarterfinals: Anuja Chandra bt Neena Pravin 61-30, 45-58, 59-41, 81-47; R. Umadevi bt Meenal Thakur 28-70, 56-43, 62-8, 56-19.

Vidya Pillai bt Ashwini Puranik 58-22, 65-29, 25-60, 53-13; Heena Khandelwal bt M.Chitra 12-54, 23-58, 63-52, 70-38, 73-45.

Pre-quarterfinals: Anuja bt Shivani Agrawal 59-7, 75-15; Neena bt Neeta Kothari 61-21, 66-7; Heena bt Suniti Damani 39-38, 75-42; Meenal w/o Keerat Bhandaal.

Vidya bt Neeta Sanghvi 89-11, 83-11; Uma bt Shreya Kothari 50-8, 74-29; Chitra bt Sangeeta Hemchand 59-68, 78-20, 59-45; Ashwini bt Renu Barkatia 66-35, 61-26.