The Hindu : Pankaj Advani begins in style

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 13, 2004

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Pankaj Advani begins in style

By Kirti Patil

GWALIOR, FEB. 12. World champion Pankaj Advani and Sourav Kothari opened their campaigns with polished performances in the 70th National snooker championship at the Jiwaji University here on Thursday.

Defending champion Advani chalked out two 4-0 wins in Group A, while junior international Kothari posted the same score-line in an impressive show of potting.

In an aggressive show of potting, Kothari kept building decent breaks while also keping an eye on safety in his match against Sarad Pradhan of Meghalaya. After winning the first two frames, 64-4, 54-17, Kothari assimilated a break of 58 with four black and two each pink and blue balls. Pradhan found no opening and the Bengal youngster was at it again, making a table clearance with a break of 38 to take the third frame 106-9.

There was some hiccup at the start of the fourth frame as Kothari kept finding the jaws. Just one red remained on the table when Kothari again got down to clear the table. But for the final black he missed, Kothari played superbly in picking up the colour balls and finding the position for the striker before he won the fourth frame 99-9.

Advani on the other hand had two matches on the opening day. While Harpreet was easy meat, Chirag Ramakrishnan was expected to give a tough fight to Advani. The champion though had other ideas.

Ramakrishnan, formerly Tamil Nadu No. 1 but now representing Maharashtra, is nonetheless a quality potter. But against Advani he found the going really tough. After visits of safety play, Advani would open up a good lead with consistent breaks. With a break of 50 that included five blacks, a blue and green, Advani signalled his ideas. There was no stopping him, but for the fourth frame in which he missed a sitter pink at the centre pocket. Ramakrishnan failed to eke out an advantage out of it as Advani won 90-6, 68-8, 92-39, 65-50.

Meanwhile, Rupesh Shah set the benchmark of the highest break, a 75 he potted in the fourth frame against Subrat Das of Orissa. In the Group D league match, Shah was in a ruthless form. He won the first two frames 65-21, 57-10 and then compiled a break of 72 to take the third 89-6. The fourth was 75-0 for Shah as Das failed to open his account.

In Group E, John Bosco first shocked Brijesh Damani 18-56, 71-28, 61-10, 3-70, 40-71, 75-56, 80-27 in a seven-frame thriller and then put out R. Loganathan 4-2.

Damani, who had finished sixth in the 2003 Jammu Nationals, seemed to play under pressure despite having taken 3-2 lead. Bosco chose up the balls nicely to unsettle the seeded player.

The results:

Group A: Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Harpreet (HP) 59-35, 77-15, 89-15, 78-23; Chirag Ramakrishnan (Mah) bt Harpreet (HP) 44-55, 67-27, 71-20, 82-14 (Harpreet docked one frame for arriving late); Pankaj Advani bt Chirag Ramakrishnan 90-6, 68-8, 92-39, 65-50.

Group B: Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Nitin Kohli (UP) 68-25, 95-9, 87-1, 45-48, 45-10; Sourav Kothari (Ben) bt Sarad Pradhan (Meg) 64-4, 54-17, 106-9, 99-9; Sumit Talwar (Chd) bt Sarad Pradhan 72-15, 63-23, 66-10, 63-15.

Group C: Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt Manish Srivastava (Har) 78-5, 82-1, 63-6, 77-7; Prem Prakash (TN) bt Manish Srivastava 66-52, 67-38, 54-20, 16-59, 50-40; Dharminder Lilly bt Prem Prakash 62-32, 61-22, 41-44, 47-32, 61-1.

Group D: Rafath Habib (Rly) bt Nitin Agarwal (MP) 63-29, 80-39, 56-62, 63-48, 62-14; Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt Subrat Das (Ori) 65-21, 57-10, 89-6, 75-0; Nitin Agarwal bt Aditya Mehta (Mah) 38-61, 15-72, 66-60, 57-20, 68-65, 43-70, 57-38.

Group E: John Bosco (AP) bt Brijesh Damani (Ben) 18-56, 71-28, 61-10, 3-70, 40-71, 75-56, 80-27; John Bosco bt R. Loganathan (TN) 34-76, 21-78, 44-34, 64-45, 57-54, 58-21.

Group F: Alok Kumar (Pun) bt Lucky Vatnani (AP) 73-14, 16-82, 71-51, 87-9, 66-10.

Group G: Manan Chandra (Del) bt Micky Bhargawa (Raj) 57-30, 71-53, 49-34, 49-34, 79-8; Pankaj Sood (HP) bt Micky Bhargawa 53-43, 55-46, 60-32, 49-37.

Group H: Anuj Uppal (Del) bt Parthiv Jhaveri (Guj) 65-24, 37-70, 14-57, 61-45, 46-59, 81-37, 71-16.

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