The Hindu : Sport : Anuja Thakur takes billiards title

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Tuesday, Jan 30, 2007
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Anuja Thakur takes billiards title

Avinash Nair

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

PICTURE OF CONCENTRATION: Anuja Thakur, winner of the women's National billiards title in Bangalore on Monday.

BANGALORE: Anuja Thakur overwhelmed sister Meenal to take her fifth women's National billiards title. At the McDowell hall of the KSBA, Anuja, the younger of the siblings and 2004 World Ladies billiards champion, defeated the reigning champion Meenal 75-62, 75-73, 77-23 in the final of the Jain Heights sponsored women's National championship here on Monday.

Meenal, is easily the better accomplished of the two in billiards. But having won a billiards and a snooker national title, the occasion seemed to have unnerved her. Anuja, on the other hand, a seasoned snooker player, got her potting right and with Meenal committing too many errors with her shot selections, the champion had it all going her way.

After wrapping up the first frame 75-62, the second went to the wire. Meenal leading 73-67 played a wrong in-off and Anuja collected eight points to go 2-0 up in the 75 points format best of five frames final.

In the third, Meenal was just not there in the match and Anuja watched by her fiancé Manan Chandra, wrapped up the frame and match in a hurry.

"This was the first billiards final that we met and I've always come second best to her," admitted Meenal later.

The third place match between R. Umadevi and Chitra Magimairaj, both from Karnataka, did not take place as the chief referee failed to inform the schedule. While Umadevi claimed for a walk-over having waited for over 30 minutes, Chitra pleaded her innocence of not being informed of the timing. The final decision is yet to be formally announced.

Rishab Pandya of Maharashtra claimed the junior snooker title. With all players in the semifinal league tied with a win and a loss each, Rishab's 4-0 (61-49, 56-46, 73-39, 73-61) humbling of Shivam Arora (Bihar) ensured him the title.

Shravan Mohta, also of Maharashtra, managed an 80-29, 55-46, 63-44, 28-49, 3-61, 56-48 win over Younis Kuchey of Jammu & Kashmir, which fetched him the runner-up prize. In the senior men's snooker, TN's Sidharth Rao, needing a win to make the knock-out stage, rallied to beat Praveen Rathi (Haryana) at 30-73, 40-73, 82-22, 67-60, 100-0, with breaks of 42 and 39 in the decider, from Group G.

The qualifiers for the round of 32 (knock out):

Group A: Manan Chandra & Ashish Danda. Group B: Pankaj Advani & Shahbaaz Adil Khan. Group C: Yasin Merchant & Brijesh Damani. Group D: Nadeem Ahmed & Sarang Shroff. Group E: K. Someshwar Rao & Anish Parekh. Group F: Alok Kumar & Karan Anand. Group G: Shyam Jagtiani & Sidharth Rao. Group H: Ashok Shandilya & Omar Balsara. Group I: S.A. Saleem & Lucky Vatnani. Group J: Prem Prakash & Siddharth Anand. Group K: Neeraj Kumar & Kamal Rohmetra. Group L: D. Raj Kumar & Dharminder Lilly. Group M: Aditya Mehta & Kamal Chawla. Group N: Duncan McKenzie. Group O: Rupesh Shah & Neeraj Khemka. Group P: Sourav Kothari & B.V.S. Murthy.

The results:

Women's billiards (final): Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Meenal Thakur (Mah) 75-62, 75-73, 77-23.

Women's snooker (League): Vidya Pillai (TN) w/o Mandeep Kaur (Krn); Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt Indira Gowda (Krn) 29-57, 58-21, 60-11; Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt Meghana Goud (Krn) 56-18 (one frame awarded to Heena as Meghana reported late); Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Sujaan Shah (Guj) 51-15, 54-8; Chitra Magimairaj (Krn) w/o Bhanumathi Mendon (Krn); R. Umadevi (Krn) bt Asha Vaswani (Krn) 51-13, 47-34; Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) bt Saraswathi (Krn) 52-8, 37-44, 50-7; Renu Barkatiya (MP) w/o Shruti Arora (Chan); Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt Indira Gowda (Krn) 47-16, 65-11; Neena Praveen (TN) bt Jyothi Shetty (Krn) 53-12, 47-4; Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Arantxa Sanchis (Mah) 64-7, 62-16.

Senior snooker (Main draw, final league matches): K. Someshwar rao (AP) bt Nitin Kohli (UP) 64-32, 77-40, 51-58, 62-21; Rafath Habib (Rlys) Anish Parekh (Jhar) 62-32, 43-62, 44-56, 50-42, 63-32; Karan Anand (Mah) bt ohn Bosco (AP) 75-16, 68-54, 31-66, 66-16; Shyam Jagtiani (Rlys) bt Ahsan Ul Haque (Ori) 63-27, 69-10, 65-17; Sidharth rao (TN) bt Praveen Rathi (Har) 30-73, 40-73, 82-22, 67-60, 100-00 (42, 39); Omar Balsara (Mah) bt Amit Saboo (Mah) 85-41 (50), 73-29, 66-06; Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) w/o Nitesh Patnaik (Ori); Ashish Dhanda (Pun) bt Umar Farooq (JK) 66-44, 62-45, 66-52; Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt J.Varun Kumar (TN) 84-24 (58), 72-31 (39), 60-19; K.Venkatesham (Rlys) bt Peter R.Lalrinitluanga (Miz) 80-00 (40), 83-23, 57-22; Shahbaaz Adil Khan (WB) bt Himanshu Arora (Raj) 41-67, 63-29, 73-05, 91-06; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Md.Faisal Khan (Rlys) 109-7 (109), 81-7 (76), 69-65; Brijesh Damani (WB) bt Divya Sharma (Har) 95-7 (49), 91-13, 02-72, 59-10; Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Sandeep Gulati (Del) 32-64, 75-00 (49), 93-25, 73-17; Rajat Khaneja (Chan) bt Nadeem Ahmed (TN) 87-48, 71-28, 15-52, 73-52; Sarang Shroff (Mah) bt Parthiv Javeri (Guj) 68-40, 43-61, 68-08, 42-50, 60-08; Neeraj Khemka (WB) bt Antim Singhi (TN) 77-44, 63-44, 65-45; Anish Parekh (Jhar) bt K.Someshwar Rao (AP) 72-21, 58-44, 25-60, 74-8; Rafath Habib (Rlys) bt Nitin Kohli (UP) 92-11, 53-14, 95-6 (75); Karan Anand (Mah) bt P.B. Liansang Zuala (Miz) 62-35, 63-16, 73-21; Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt John Bosco (AP) 76-32, 74-05 (57), 85-64; Shyam Jagtiani (Rlys) bt Parveen Rathi (Har) 65-32, 78-09, 69-26; Siddharth Rao (TN) bt Ahsan-ul-Haque (Ori) 77-22, 63-54, 64-14; Duncan Mackenzie (Kar) bt Aditya Goenka (WB) 62-53, 76-16, 60-29; S.Mumtaz Ali (Jhar) bt M.S. Arun (Kar) 75-32, 42-68, 63-44, 15-62, 55-26; Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Aditya Mehta (Mah) 78-38, 47-38, 52-59, 67-62; Omar Balsara (Mah) w/o Nitesh Patnaik (Ori); Amit Saboo (Mah) bt Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 25-95, 67-36, 87-1 (80), 62-65, 71-43; S.A.Saleem (TN) bt Shyamal Sharma (Bih) 65-37, 80-12, 77-65; Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Lucky Vatnani (AP) 60-32, 42-72, 69-54, 63-37; Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt B. V. Srinivas Murthy (Kar) 54-36, 85-37, 00-75, 83-38.

Junior snooker: Super League: Shravan Mohta (Mah) bt Younis Kuchey (JK) 80-29, 55-46, 63-44, 28-49, 03-61, 56-48; Rishab Pandya (Mah) bt Shivam Arora (Bih) 61-49, 56-46, 73-39, 73-61. How they finished: 1. Rishab Pandya (Mah), 2. Shravan Mohta (Mah), 3. Shivam Arora (Bih), 4. Younis Kuchey (JK).

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