BANGALORE: Manan Chandra and Pankaj Advani made short work of their opponents but Karnataka's former champion B.V. Srinivasa Murthy had to quell the challenge of another former champion Ashok Shandilya, while Nadeem Ahmed of Tamil Nadu and D. Raj Kumar reached the last 16 round of the Jain Heights 73rd Senior National snooker championship at the KSBA Hall here on Tuesday.

Ashok had a golden opportunity for drawing level at 2-2 against an over cautious B.V.S. Murthy but frittered it away. In the fourth frame, on a black ball play-off, Ashok after a nerve-tingling top table intricacy did need a black play-off at 47- 45 up but frittered that advantage with a `foul' despite potting the black to lose the initiative.

Nadeem Ahmed of Tamil Nadu was in the pits against Anish Parekh of Jharkhand but pulled off a sensational 4-3 victory to romp into the last 16. Nadeem with a lazy gait, pulled off some amazing long pots, as is his wont, and more importantly managed to force a few balls through to get past a subdued Anish in the decider.

In the fourth frame too Nadeem had to overcome some anxious moments. Overtly cautious both the players played `safe' but when Anish tried a difficult red and almost pulled it off, Nadeem got a breather.

Nadeem piled on the pressure and with every passing visit Anish fell into arrears but with all the colours on the table and 24-47 down, Anish had his chance. Anish did `snooker' Nadeem but fell short as the TN cueist long potted a brown and then forced a blue past a pocket-kissing pink to clinch the frame and match in his favour.

Easy match

Nadeem runs into top seed Manan Chandra a runaway 4-0 winner in just 45 minutes over Karan Anand (Maharashtra) while Sidharth Rao tested Yasin Merchant initially before the former Asian champion eked out a 4-2 victory.

D. Raj Kumar of Karnataka continued his good run in the league with a straight frame win over Neeraj Khemka (WB) while Aditya Mehta dropped a frame to Lucky Vatnani (AP) before edging past 53-63, 66-1, 81-36, 74-1, 57-53.

Pankaj's match against Girish of TN was delayed as the former failed to carry his cue. But the sportsman that Pankaj is, he gave time for his opponent to get his cue and play and then whipped him 4-0.

Dharminder Lilly of Punjab had it tough against Duncan Mackenzie of Karnataka. Duncan with a 94 break took a 2-1 lead but the experienced Lilly tightened his game and gave nothing away to snatch a 4-2 win.

Sarang Shroff of Maharashtra stunned second ranked Shyam Jagtiani of Railways in four straight frames. With breaks of 44 in the third and 72 in the fourth, Sarang Shroff won 52-10, 57-48, 76-18, 80-13 win over the Railways cueist Shyam Jagtiani. Prem Prakash of TN downed Ashish Danda with nonchalant ease at 61-49, 54-38, 61-13, 61-8 in another match, later in the day.

The results: Snooker senior: knockout: Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Karan Anand (Mah) 88-35, 69-06, 76-10, 75-12; Nadeem Ahmed (TN) bt Anish Parekh (Jhar) 35-61, 60-11, 58-46, 00-91, 68-77, 76-28, 56-24; Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Sidharth Rao (TN) 74-26, 34-61, 60-15, 27-73, 69-06, 116-01; Siddharth Anand (Del) bt Kamal Rohmetra (JK) 05-68, 41-49, 79-34, 63-00, 44-65, 59-46, 63-27; Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt Duncan Mackenzie (Kar) 32-83, 85-24, 05-111, 80-39, 76-14, 62-09; Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt S.A. Saleem (TN) 76-46, 63-44, 63-33, 69-31; Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan (WB) 63-37, 96-06, 61-14, 72-46; B.V. Srinivasa Murthy (Kar) bt Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 52-16, 54-17, 04-84, 63-55, 67-53; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Girish (TN) 63-58, 113-09, 103-28, 97-01; D. Raj Kumar (Kar) bt Neeraj Khemka (WB) 59-50, 68-11, 87-45, 70-62; Aditya Mehta (Mah) bt Lucky Vatnani (AP) 52-63, 66-01, 81-36, 74-01, 57-53; Prem Prakash (TN) bt Ashish Danda (Pun) 61-49, 54-38, 61-13, 61-8; Sarang Shroff (Mah) bt Shyam Jagtiani (Rlys) 52-10, 57-48, 76-18, 80-13..

Ladies snooker: league: Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) bt Sadana Patel (Kar) 61-09, 62-34; Kamal Chandra Babu (TN) w/o Revathi Arora (Chd); Asha (TN) bt Neeta Kothari (WB) 2-1 38-17, 46-56, 76-73; Soumini Srinivas (TN) bt Shabana Banu (AP) 45-53, 67-17, 70-30; Neena Praveen (TN) bt Neha Sanghvi (Mah) 61-04, 68-24; Jagruti Patel (Mah) bt Keerat Bhandal (Del) 65-19, 83-10; Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt Suniti Damini (WB) 44-32, 56-25; Renu Barkatiya (MP) bt Aakanksha Singh (AP) 56-15, 57-24; Chitra Magimairaj (Kar) bt Shabana Banu (AP) 63-26, 89-23; R. Uma Devi w/o Shereen Banu (AP); Sangeeta Hemchand w/o Revathi Arora (Chan); Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Khushi Fatima Tauqeer (UP) 54-58, 75-29, 65-17.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail