The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : A master-class show from Yasin Merchant

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Saturday, Dec 22, 2007
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Sport - Billiards & Snooker

A master-class show from Yasin Merchant

V.V. Subrahmanyam

Sethi’s safe play good enough to beat ShabaazAdvani on course for double

Hyderabad: Yasin Merchant, the 41-year-old from Maharashtra demolished M.S. Arun of Karnataka with a near flawless display to record a 66-21, 74-0, 106-18, 63-22 win in the seniors’ snooker of the Seaways Group-sponsored National championship for seniors and juniors here on Friday.

All that Arun, the 24-year-old engineering graduate from Bangalore, could do was repeatedly applaud.

With breaks of 48, 74, 53 in the first three frames, Yasin clearly meant business. The best part was the second frame when he was on strike after Arun missed a simple red.

That was enough for Yasin to come up with a huge break of 74.

The story was similar for Shabaaz Adil Khan of West Bengal as Geet Sethi notched up a 53-23, 64-52, 12-70, 77-35, 63-41 win.

Sethi gave a lesson in the art of safe play providing little freedom for the Bengal lad, who had won the junior billiards title here a few days ago.

The youngster admitted he had his chances but could not come up with the right combination.

That he had the highest break of 55 compared to not even a single half-century break from Sethi was some consolation. Pankaj Advani stayed on course for a double with 41-75, 59-29, 60-11, 61-54, 62-15 win over Sandeep Gulati with a highest break of 41 in the first frame to start with.

In the fourth frame, referee R.B. Ramesh opted for the toss when the scores were tied 54-all with only the black on the table. After Sandeep missed the long pot, Advani duly wrapped up a successful visit and then was just unstoppable in the final frame to clinch the issue.

The results:

Snooker: Seniors: Alok Kumar bt Ashish Dhanda 88-39, 94-18, 99-0, 67-11; Manan Chandra bt D. Raj Kumar 79-12, 62-54, 64-28, 81-36; Sarang Shroff bt Nadeem Ahmed 51-61, 46-56, 55-50, 98-31, 47-32, 53-20; Geet Sethi bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan 53-23, 64-52, 12-70, 77-35, 63-41; Pankaj Advani bt Sandeep Gulati 41-75, 59-29, 60-11, 61-54, 62-15; Ashok Shandilya bt Shravan Mohta 63-31, 57-48, 74-2, 70-41; Antim Singhi bt Rishabh Pandya 55-38, 70-38, 63-70, 60-29, 37-50, 68-55; Yasin Merchant bt M.S. Arun 66-21, 74-0, 106-18, 63-22; K. Jhanjhariya bt R. Girish 72-42, 36-52, 77-21, 60-20, 66-33; Rupesh Shah bt Divya Sharma 41-48, 9-54, 65-13, 82-33, 63-36, 66-35; Sourav Kothari bt Rafath Habib 69-38, 56-21, 55-67, 61-47, 39-72, 99-10; Brijesh Damani bt P. Hemanth Kumar 54-36, 55-51, 67-35, 54-50; Lucky Vatnani bt Rajat Khaneja 50-51, 57-8, 73-37, 70-62, 58-34; Dhruv Sitwala bt K. Someswara Rao 80-23, 24-62, 66-14, 81-23, 6-67, 53-40.

Juniors: Muddassar Aashiq bt Ravi Sharma 69-32, 39-26, 58-23; Pratik Agarwal w\o Amit Ahuja; Miya Bashir bt Ashish 55-16, 33-62, 61-33, 48-29; David Bose bt Ali 66-52, 68-33, 38-49, 56-26; Amir Hussain w\o A. Maheshwar; Rovin D’Souza bt Vivek Chopra 81-30, 0-81, 64-50, 40-63, 65-40; Sujit bt Komal Prabath 58-16, 57-19, 56-5; Shoaib Khan w\o Rakesh Roshan Pradan; Hasan Badami w\o Gulshan Keswani; S.A. Khan bt Pranit 71-33, 50-40, 63-30; Pranit bt Konark Bansal 65-15, 36-48, 67-20, 46-8; Pushpinder Singh bt Muddasar 70-14, 50-18, 73-43; Simranjeet Singh bt Kunal Agarwal 33-52, 57-56, 68-17, 64-36; Satbir Singh bt Kuldeep Chadirama 63-22, 54-69, 68-36, 75-29; Varun bt Aayush 16-64, 66-37, 61-31, 72-39; Aneesh Saini bt Abhinav 65-25, 22-53, 49-29, 57-19; Shravan Mohta bt Pratik Agarwal 56-27, 65-19, 92-7.

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