The Asian Games gold medallist registered a 4-2 win over Kolkata’s Sourav Kothari in his first match but the icing on the cake was his second win for the day at the Karnataka State Billiards Association Hall when he outclassed newly crowned National 6-red snooker champion Pankaj Advani 4-2.
Merchant started off with a break f 89 oto bag the first frame 97-19 and went on to clinch the second and third 88-42 and 65-16 respectively. Advani clawed back by winning the fourth (94-15) and fifth (55-3) frames, but Merchant held on to win sixth frame 100-17 and with it the match.The men’s snooker scamp comes to an end on Saturday while billiards action begins on Sunday.
In the women’s category, Vidya Pillai, despite her 1-3 loss to Arantxa Sanchis, bagged the top spot in the rankings at the first camp with a 3-1 win over Meenal Thakur. Arantxa clinched the second spot while Chitra Magimairaj finished third.
Results: Men: Kamal Chawla bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan 4-1 (95 (31, 40)-0, 59-20, 78 (31)-30, 31-67 (45), 74 (52)-36); Yasin Merchant bt Sourav Kothari 4-2 (65-32, 90 (41)-25, 84 (57)-1, 60-64, 27-80 (40), 59 (40)-38); Pankaj Advani bt Alok Kumar 4-2 (59-17, 125 (30)-9, 59-27, 19-69, 16-99 (39), 77 (24)-74); Brijesh Damani bt Aditya Mehta 4-0 (75-42, 62-55, 67 (33)-1, 74 (60)-12); Y Merchant bt P Advani 4-2 (97 (89)-19, 88-42, 65 (32)-16, 15-94 (57), 3-55, 100-17); A Kumar bt K Chawla 4-0 (126 (126)-1, 50-46, 86-63, 122 (114)-1); Manan Chandra bt SA Khan 4-2 (66-33, 68-15, 3-87 (43), 33-61, 65-50, 54-36); S Kothari bt B Damani 4-1 (95 (40)-0, 69- (41)-51, 100 (34, 45)-0, 70-72, 58-35).
Women: Anuja Chandra bt Meenal Thakur 3-1 (63-74, 62-23, 84-11, 52-47); Chitra Magimairaj bt Neeta Sanghvi 3-2 (68 (35)-34, 70-34, 27-54, 29-47, 60-37); Uma Nagaraj bt Suniti Damani 3-2 (40-55, 59-66, 51-49, 60-31, 34-30); Arantxa Sanchis bt Vidya Pillai 3-1 (44-28, 65-53, 29-66, 33-28); Arantxa S bt Anuja Chandra 3-2 (35-65, 46-56, 53-20, 59-54, 66-33); Vidya P bt Meenal T 3-1 (56-16, 48-50, 48-03, 53-14); Uma N bt Neeta S 3-0 (62-8, 56-16, 71-27); Chitra M bt Suniti D 3-0 (60-4, 77-38, 68-16).
Rankings: Vidya P 1; Arantxa S 2; Chitra M 3, Anuja C 4; Meenal T 5; Uma N 6; Suniti D 7; Neeta S 8.