Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Alok, Rafath and Rishab keep winning

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

LUCKY BREAK: M.C. Manoj did well to win his first match against Nadeem Ahmed.

Chennai: Alok Kumar, Rafath Habib and Rishab Pandya won their second straight group games at the Alliance Group-ASCA snooker tournament at the Andhra Social and Cultural Association on Tuesday, all but ensuring themselves last-16 berths.

Alok won his group D game against M.S. Arun in four frames after the latter took the opening frame 76-24 with an early break of 47. The two ran neck-and-neck through the second and third frames, Alok’s greater experience telling as he pulled ahead each time. Breaks of 47 and 37 gave Alok the fourth 88-8, all of Arun’s points coming from Alok’s fouls.

In an engrossing group E clash, Faisal Khan came back from a 1-2 deficit to beat local lad Harpreet Singh. The turning point came early in the fourth when Faisal, trailing 8-32, parked the cue ball gently behind the brown. With his straight-line path to the reds blocked, Harpreet conceded four straight fouls off the cushions, hitting the pink with the fourth — eighteen points to Faisal. Sensing an opening, Faisal floored the pedal and posted a break of 63 to take the fourth frame to enthusiastic applause.

He did even better in the fifth, cut short of a deserved century break when he missed a simple black pot into the top right pocket at 81.

M.C. Manoj, a late replacement for Anuj Uppal who pulled out of the tournament at the eleventh hour, won his group A match against Nadeem Ahmed in four frames. Having nearly lost the first frame to two fortuitous endgame pots from Nadeem — first the yellow, and then the pink, rebounding into unintended pockets — Manoj potted the black after both men had missed a number of times.

An unfinished break of 31 that won Manoj the second and a 40 in the third for Nadeem were among their few extended turns at the table.

Rafath Habib ended his group F game against Manish Jain with a flourish, making a break of 93 in the third frame.

The results:

Group A: Varun Kumar bt Nadeem Ahmed 61-25, 82-19, 59-72, 64-18; M.C. Manoj bt Nadeem Ahmed 51-45, 56-33, 50-67, 81-28; Group B: Antim Singhi bt Pushparaj 64-54, 94-48, 35-64, 52-18; Group C: R. Girish bt Sunil Mathews 72-43, 56-14, 78-0; Group D: Alok Kumar bt M.S. Arun 24-75, 65-53, 60-51, 88-8; Shahbaz Adil Khan bt R. Loganathan 65-26, 11-74, 32-66, 91-7, 71-35; Group E: Faisal Khan bt Harpreet Singh 39-76, 73-16, 19-75, 89-32, 89-10; Group F: Rafath Habib bt Vijay Nichani 80-41, 71-0, 36-63, 69-24; Rafath Habib bt Manish Jain 81-43, 63-57, 93-0; Group H: Rishab Pandya bt Pranit Ramchandani 58-47, 61-45, 75-7; Rishab Pandya bt Neeraj Kumar 23-60, 59-26, 71-21, 59-51.

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