The Hindu : Sport : Pankaj has it easy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 05, 2006

Sport

Sport

Pankaj has it easy

S.R. Suryanarayan

Meenal Thakur, women's billiards champion. — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: A triple century break followed by a century seemed modest efforts from Pankaj Advani, considering his class and stature. But then these are early days and his semifinal round-robin entry in junior boys' billiards was in line with that — quiet but steady — as another day passed in the LIC-BSNL National billiards and snooker championship here on Wednesday.

Starting with a 318 and then a 177, Pankaj's significant breaks thereafter were only 63, 59, 87 as he ran up 1099 to his opponent Faisal Khan's 261.

Though action was on over four tables, Pankaj was in focus for his initial burst. The way he is able to shepherd the white and red balls to the top of the table was a treat to watch. Using the yellow ball to near perfection and with the gentlest of touches, the champion was able to keep collecting points via in-offs, canons and straight pottings, even as the onlookers watched in delight.

No match

Faisal Khan must be pardoned for appearing a tad embarrassed but then there was little he could do except watch his rival in admiration. For try as he did, the Delhi player was unable to match his rival's hunger and planning.

Stealing glances of the great player's progress was Aditya Mehta, who many perceive would be the challenger to the title. The Maharashtra player did not need to stretch while downing Tamil Nadu's Karthik Ramaswamy.

Having won her maiden billiards title on Tuesday, Mumbai's Meenal Thakur was off to a bright start in her snooker campaign, winning her first women's group league match against Tamil Nadu's Sowmini Srinivas. The CCI Accounts Manager is keen to go far in this event too.

The results:

Billiards: Junior boys (quarterfinals): Lucky Vatnani (AP) bt Manish Jain (WB) 668-400; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Faisal Khan (Del) 1099-261; Aditya Mehta (Mah) bt Karthik Ramaswamy (TN) 669-325; Satish Kumar (Kar) bt Kisar Raoof (AP) 541-372.

Men (qualifying): I.S. Malik (UP) bt M. Ramachandran (TN) 530-286; Rafath Habib (Rly) bt Satish Kumar (Ktk) 563-266; Brijesh Damani (Wb) bt R. Loganathan (TN) 715-333.

Snooker: Sub-junior boys (quarterfinals): Varun Madhan (Del) bt Malkeet Singh (UP) 42-33, 70-37; Pushpinder Singh (Del) bt Andy Chin (AP) 70-12, 71-23; Ayush Kumar (Pun) bt Rovin D'Souza (Mah) 71-10, 85-2; Raunaq Vazirani (Guj) bt Aditya Agarwal (Mah) 58-34, 92-4.

Women: Group league: Gr. A: Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Shereen Banu (AP) 60-22, 60-17; Suniti Damani (WB) bt Shereen Banu (AP) 54-9, 38-27; Gr. B: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Sowmini Srinivas (TN) 60-23, 64-23; Gr. C: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Mehjabeen Raza (AP) 55-28, 51-13; Mehjabeen Raza (Ap) bt Keerath (Del) 49-28, 42-27; Gr D: Aswhini Puranik (MP)bt Shabana Banu (AP) 68-8, 59-10; Jagriti Patel (Mah) bt Shabana Banu (AP) 86-40, 57-9; Gr. E: M. Chitra (Kar) bt Neeta Kothari (WB) 60-14, 72-25; Gr. F: Neena Parveen (TN) bt Priyanka Agarwal (Ors) 55-9, 58-11; Gr. G: Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt A. Kansha Singh (AP) 52-0, 60-3.

Snooker women's group league: Gr. E: Neeta Kothari (WB) bt Kamala chandrababu (TN)51-13, 58-11; Gr. F: Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt Priyanka (Ors) 60-3, 55-13; Gr. H: Sridevi (Ktk) bt Kushi Fatima (UP) 61-66, 51-20, 59-13.

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