by Suman Gupta

Bhopal, December: Firm favourites Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta, both representing PSPB made an early exit losing the last 16 round of the Men’s 6-Red snooker event of the Sage-National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2021 and played at the Sage University Campus, Bhopal on Thursday.

The 36-year-old Pankaj the World 6-Red champion and defending champion went down to an inspired teammate Dhvaj Haria who was in tremendous form to carve out a 5-2 win. In the other encounter, which was also a contest between PSPB players the 39-year-old Brijesh Damani prevailed over 36-year-old Aditya Mehta by a similar 5-2 scoreline.

The left-handed Dhvaj started in rousing fashion constructing breaks of 60 and 52 in the opening two frames and quickly raced to a 4-0 lead. India’s most decorated cueist Pankaj winner of 24 world titles showed signs of fighting back as he stemmed the rot by compiling a 56 points break to take the fifth and also pocketed the sixth to bridge the gap. But, the tall Dhvaj dashed Pankaj’s hopes by comfortable winning the seventh to wrap up the contest with the frame scores reading 60-05, 52-07, 45-06, 38-28, 04-60, 00-47, and 49-11 in his favour.

The Kolkata-based Brijesh played steadily and positively went for his pots to build small breaks which helped him to gain the upper hand against Aditya before going on to record a 12-45, 75-14, 37-00, 24-32, 33-31, 37-04, and 53-05 verdict and a passage to the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, local challenger and defending champion Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh made a shock exit losing to Karnataka’s Varshaa Sanjeev 4-3 in seven nerve-wracking frames in the Ladies 6-Red snooker quarter-finals.

Varsha’s senior teammates Vidya Pillai and Chitra Maghimairaj also progressed to the semi-finals. Vidya Pillai defeated Tamil Nadu’s Neena Praveen 4-1 (04-34, 35-04, 42-38, 49-00, 35-28), while Chitra got the better of compatriot Keerthana Pandian  4-2 (12-46, 44-06, 43-21, 21-38, 36-25, 33-18).

Results: Ladies 6-Red snooker – Quarter-finals: Anupama Ramachandran (TN) beat Arantxa Sanchis (MAH) 4-2 (58-11, 01-44, 41-21, 22-42, 52-09. 32-24);

Vidya Pillai (KAR) beat Neena Praveen (TN) 4-1 (04-34, 35-04, 42-38, 49-00, 35-28);

Chitra Magimairaj (KAR) beat Keerthana Pandian (KAR) 4-2 (12-46, 44-06, 43-21, 21-38, 36-25, 33-18);

Varshaa Sanjeev (KAR) beat Amee Kamani (MP) 4-3.

Men’s 6-Red snooker – Pre-quarter-finals: Shivam Arora (MAH) beat J. Varun Kumar (TN) 5-4 (66(40)-00, 66-00, 01-32, 05-40, 70(70)-00, 71(70)-00, 11-34, 10-61 42-01); Himanshu Jain (TEL) beat Malkeet Singh (RSPB) 5-2 (68-00, 38-16, 25-35, 37-13, 12-51, 52-00, 48-00); Brijesh Damani (PSPB) beat Aditya Mehta (PSPB) 5-2 (12-45, 75-14, 37-00, 24-32, 33-31, 37-04, 53-05); Manan Chandra (PSPB) beat Kreishh Gurbaxani (MAH) 5-3 (36-20, 62-00, 26-37, 06-64(64), 32-45, 40-01, 43-37, 73(73)-04); S. Shrikrishna (PSPB) beat R. Girish (RSPB) 5-2 (69-00, 38-08, 28-41, 12-36, 39-25, 39-00, 66-00); Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) beat Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 5-2 (60(60)-05, 52(52)-07, 45-06, 38-28, 04-60(56), 00-47, 49-11); Kamal Chawla (RSPB) beat Mohd. Hussain Khan (RSPB) 5-3 (01-37, 15-39, 50-14, 52-15, 47-16, 40-01, 17-30, 36-00); Vijay Nichani (TN) beat Anuj Uppal (DEL) 5-3 (17-37, 35-36, 15-43, 46-11, 66-00, 58-13, 43-00, 40-39).