The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : It's Anuja vs. Uma Devi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 10, 2005

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

It's Anuja vs. Uma Devi

By G. Viswanath

MUMBAI, JAN. 9. Vidya Pillai, who has been eliminated, showed the real underdog spirit in her match against a champion performer anxious to defend her title and keep her reputation intact.

For all her latent fears, Anuja Thakur would not gave grudged Vidya's optimism of challenging her present exalted standing.

After all, Vidya had quelled three determined opponents who had got under her skin starting from the championship opener till the quarterfinal.

Up 2-0 in the best of five games (50 points up format), Vidya was all set to bring in the good news to her supporters at around lunchtime before things soured gradually for her.

Anuja, not letting the early setbacks break her will, dug deep into her reserves to stage a remarkable comeback and win the semifinal.

The tussle between Anuja and Vidya was the highlight of the second day of the Goregaon Sports Club National billiards and snooker championship. Anuja's elder sister, Meenal though was not as lucky against Karnataka's R. Uma Devi.

The reigning snooker champion, Meenal, put up a fine display before going down fighting. The ladies' billiards final will be played on Tuesday.

The results:

Ladies' billiards (semifinals): R. Uma Devi (Kar) bt Meenal Thakur (Mah) 50-41, 50-39, 2-42; Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 39-50, 20-52, 50-29, 51-33, 51-22.

Ladies' snooker (round-robin): Group `A': Soumini Srinivasan (TN) bt Saundarya (TN)51-35, 59-45; Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Heena Khandelwal (Mah) 20-50, 53-36, 50-9. Group `B': R. Uma Devi (Kar) bt Suniti Damani (WB) 81-18, 71-11; Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt Sonal Mamoowala 58-47, 75-46. Group `C': Tusha Rastogi (Mah) bt Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) 68-47, 82-52; Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Neena Pravin 61-18, 58-26; Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Tusha Rastogi (Mah) 66-7, 111 (55,35)-3. Group `D': Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) 47-25, 53-30; Chitra Magimairaj (Knt) bt Neha Sanghvi (Mah) 52, 74-25.

Juniors snooker qualifying (first round): Vishnu Kumar (TN) bt Nihal Wadhwa (Knt) 38-66, 53-43, 70-58, 57-38; Rohan Anand (Bih) bt N. Chowgule (Mah) 49-27, 57-35, 69-46; Kartik Murugeshan (TN) bt Rupen Shah (Guj) 70-23, 74-19, 54-56, 69-35; HarshilThakkar (Guj) bt Manish Rajbhal (Mah) 60-27, 52-40, 36-44, 59-36; Mohd. Nabeel (TN) bt Dhanraj Minawala (Mah) 75-16, 45-47, 12-55, 65-22, 76-29; Balaji Reddy (TN) bt Karan Sharda (Mah) 49-26, 50-68, 58-55, 75-54; Naimesh Jadhav (Guj) bt Tamil Nambi (TN) 59-27, 65-49, 54-28.

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