Naveen springs big surprise
Naveen, who took to cue sports way back in 1989, appearing in only in his third National event fought back from two frames down to edge out the 2006 National snooker champion 4-3 with a gritty display in the Group F league fixture at the Karnataka State Billiards Association hall.
The 31-year-old, who suffered an accident in 1999 that forced him out of sport for three years, earned few chances in the opening frame which Chandra pocketed 38-0. Looking at ease, the multiple eight and nine-ball pool National winner Chandra took the second 51-16 before Naveen staged a superb fightback. He levelled the game 2-2, winning the next two 46-4, 34-23 and then gained a surprise 3-1 lead after claiming the fifth 41-13. Chandra however, rallied to clinch the sixth 35-9 and took the game into the decider. The Karnataka lad held his nerve in the final frame to emerge victorious 46-14.
Seeded players like Dhruv Sitwala and Devendra Joshi too were severely tested by qualifiers in their respective battles but the seasoned pros put their big-match experience to good effect to come out unscathed.
While PSPB’s Sitwala prevailed over Tamil Nadu’s Dilip Kumar 4-3 (38-15, 32-36, 40-0, 25-45, 22-39, 39-32, 60-10), Joshi produced some incredible potting in his 4-2 (23-32, 41-48, 42-21, 47-30, 59-1, 56-0) win over Karnataka’s AR Arjun.
Bangalore’s Pankaj Advani, one of the favourites to lift the OB Agarwal Trophy, was way below his par in the morning session during his 4-1 (50-1, 31-23, 15-49, 39-27, 39-9) defeat of Vinay Katerla. Representing PSPB, the reigning National snooker and billiards champion quickly left the venue after the win complaining of an upset stomach.
After some well-deserved rest at home, Advani notched up the tournament’s fourth magic 75-point break as he crushed Tamil Nadu’s Manoj MK 4-0 (70-0, 61-1, 75-0, 58-0).
Bihar’s Shivam Arora and Railways’ Kamal Chawla also registered 75-point breaks during their wins over L Nagaraj and P Vijay Kumar. Arora edged out Nagaraj 4-3 (1-30, 25-38, 58-0, 25-33, 38-18, 49-0, 75-0) and Chawla eased past Vijay 4-0 (46-13, 75-0, 52-21, 78-0). Chawla, however, had a mixed day as the Railways’ player lost his evening match to Akshay Kumar 2-4 (42-13, 3-58, 17-37, 29-40, 25-12, 4-42).
DH News Service
League results: Men: Group A: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Vinay Katrela (Kar) 4-1 (50(49)-1, 31-23, 15-49, 39-27, 39-9); Divya Sharma (Har) bt Manoj MK (TN) 4-0 (45-0, 44-7, 49-23, 34-1); Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Manoj MK (TN) 4-0 (70(42)-0, 61(27)-1, 75-0, 58(54)-0); Aseem (Har) bt Vinay Katrela (Kar) 4-0 (30-11, 46-16, 29-24, 47-35).
Group B: Neeraj Kumar (Rlys) bt Md Asim (Rlys) 4-1 (40-17, 33-18, 50-22, 24-29, 53-0); Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt D Raj Kumar (Kar) 4-0 (38-29, 36-4, 47-0, 45(45)-9); Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Md Asim (Rlys) 4-1 (67-13, 41-8, 23-49, 47-4, 62 (62)-0); Laxman Rawat (Del) bt D Raj Kumar (Kar) 4-1 (37-25, 23-47, 37-23, 23-13, 38-12).
Group C: Akshay Kumar (Del) bt Vaibhav Sharma (Del) 4-3 (27-38, 36-48, 38-1, 29-35, 35-28, 31-23, 47(46)-4); Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Vijay Kumar P (TN) 4-0 (46-13, 75(75)-0, 52-21, 78(74)-0); Akshay Kumar (Del) bt Kamal Chawla (Rlys) 4-2 (13-42, 58-3, 37-17, 40-29, 12-25, 42-4); Vijay Kumar P (TN) bt Vijay Nichani (TN) 4-2 (41-27, 5-42, 38-30, 58-30, 2-34, 32-27).
Group D: Amit Bhushan (Kar) bt Mundir Sherazi (Kar) 4-1 (32-24, 7-52, 36-27, 39-8, 43-0); Rupesh Shah (PSPB) bt Sohail Jairaj (Kar) 4 -2 (27-35, 34-19, 32-9, 41-0, 6-39, 38-22); Rupesh Shah (PSPB) bt Amit Bhushan (Kar) 4-0 (50-7, 62-0, 59-9, 39-12); Sohail Jairaj (Kar) bt Abhishek Soparkar (Mah) 4-2 (9-48, 30-26, 17-44, 47-5, 41-11, 34-8).
Group E: Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt KB Hariharan (Kar) 4-3 (48-17, 16-41, 32-33, 30-51, 54-0, 35-23, 47-0); Shivam Arora (Bih) bt L Nagaraj (Kar) bt 4-3 (1-30, 25-38, 58-0, 25-33, 38-18, 49-0, 75-0).
Group F: Pranit JR (TN) bt Harish Gandhi (MP) 4-1 (40-29, 32-29, 37-29, 23-29, 37-5); KS Naveen Kumar (Kar) bt Manan Chandra (PSPB) 4-3 (0-38, 16-51, 46-4, 34-23, 41-13, 9-35, 46-14).
Group G: Sameer Shroff (TN) bt B Bhaskar (Kar) 4-0 (39-30, 35-32, 41-12, 49-6); Faisal Khan (Rlys) bt Michael Rebello (Kar) 4-0 (30-28, 36-18, 55-27, 25-15).
Group H: Lucky Vatnani bt Abhimanyu Gandhi (Guj) 4-1 (41-7, 27-10, 49-8, 19-30, 50-4); TV Rajiv (AP) bt G Sreedhar (AP) 4-3 (7-38, 36-08, 31-20, 50-37, 17-39, 18-37, 35-21).
Group I: IH Manudev (Kar) bt Ajay Bhushan (Kar) 4-1 (46-10, 42-9, 48-18, 32-39, 35-6); J Varun Kumar (TN) bt Varun Madan (Del) 4-1 (38-24, 50-5, 27-36, 56-15, 62-34).
Group J: Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt Dilip Kumar (TN) 4-3 (38-15, 32-36, 40-0, 25-45, 22-39. 39-32, 60-10); Rafath Habib (Rlys) bt Pushpinder Singh (Del) 4-3 (50-6, 0-71(49), 22-34, 15-37, 38-20, 54-17, 35-5).
Group K: Yogesh M (Kar) w/o Pranav Jain (TN); Balaji Reddy (Kar) bt Nadeem Azeez (Kar) 4-2 (16-37, 25-33, 50-12, 58-03, 37(37)-0, 37 (33)-1).
Group L: A Deepak bt Joginder Singh (Kar) 4-2 (21-30, 43-9, 43-34, 22-36, 51-36, 43-28); Sandeep Gulati bt Kankan Shamshi (MP) 4-2 (22-49, 56-0, 17-44, 67-0, 41-04, 31-21).
Group M: Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) bt Anuj Uppal (Del) 4-0 (44-9, 1-61, 70-0, 47-23, 69-0); Rishab Pandya (Mah) bt Kamal Rohmetra (J&K) 4-3 (45-2, 33-22, 21-29, 25-33, 45-11, 10-38, 42-11).
Group N: R Girish (Rlys) bt D Mukhopadhyay (WB) 4-2 (17-48, 35-11, 38-12, 4-40, 47-1, 56(42)-0); Shashank Gupta (MP) bt Nishad Chowgle (Mah) 4-1 (45-22, 43-21, 46-7, 27-32, 64-18).
Group O: Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt AR Arjun (Kar) 4-2 (23-32, 41-48, 42-21, 47-30, 59(59)-1, 56(56)-0); Nadeem Ahmed (TN) bt Balamurugan (TN) 4-0 (34-8, 39-13, 48-9, 34-3).
Group P: BV Sronivas Murthy (Kar) bt Prathamesh Sawant (Mah) 4-0 (39-10, 37-32, 38-01, 30-17); Vijay Goel (Del) bt Anand Raghuvanshi (Mah) 4-0 (60-10, 42-28, 36-23, 38-27).
Ladies: Group A: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Indira Hegde (Kar) 3-1 (22-30, 39-1, 31-12, 32-6); Chitra Magimairaj (Kar) bt Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) 3-1 (42-15, 40-21, 19-47, 32-5); Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Sangeetha Hemchand (Mah) 3-1 (45-50, 27-16, 51-09, 36-3); Neeta Kothari (WB) bt Indira Hegde (Kar) 3-2 (8-57, 16-32, 41-3, 37-17, 47-33).
Group B: Indira Gowda bt Neeta Sanghvi 3-1 (31-38, 41-30, 51-10, 32-15); Vidya Pillai bt Shilpa Shanthappa (Kar) 3-0 (32-30, 36-1, 35-12).
Group C: Anuja Chandra (PSPB) bt Poorna (TN) 3-0 (56-2, 42-3, 45-16); Suniti Damani (WB) bt Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) 3-1 (41-10, 22-32, 54-6, 29-24).
Group D: Uma Nagaraj (Kar) bt Aradhana Naik (Kar) 3-0 (38-24, 33-24, 37-10); Arantxa Sanchis (Mah) bt Asha (TN) 3-1 (62-6, 45-14, 21-31, 40-7).