Date:05/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/05/stories/2008030555942000.htm

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Shandilya registers win

MUMBAI: Seasoned Ashok Shandilya (Railways) and talented Lucky Vatnani (Hyderabad) overcame initial hiccups to win their opening round matches against Nikhil Ootam (Mumbai) and Rafat Habib (Railways) respectively in the Khar Gymkhana-Shyam Shroff Memorial Open Snooker Tournament, conducted at the Khar Gymkhana. Shandilya and Vatnani won by identical 3-1 margins.

The results: Group A: Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Shravan Mohta (Nagpur) 73(47)-30, 63-26, 75(71)-25; Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Neeraj Kumar (Bihar) 72(53)-30, 71(57)-38, 66-17.

Group B: Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt Faizal Khan (Rlys) 76(57)-7, 71-24, 65-23; Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) bt Nikhil Ootam (Mumbai) 17-58, 68-16, 71(46)-32, 55(43)-16.

Group C: Yasin Merchant (Mum) bt Hasan Badami (Mum) 61-52, 57-56, 59(46)-36; Lucky Vatnani (Hyd) bt Rafath Habib (Rlys) 63-54, 31-73, 72-38, 80-26.

Group D: Sarang Shroff (Mum) bt Rishabh Pandya (Mum) 20-68, 80-0, 74-7, 89-40. — Special Correspondent