Sport - Billiards & Snooker   

Pankaj makes semifinals

By Kirti Patil

Kamal Chawla gets ready to take a shot on his way to victory over top seed and defending champion Alok Kumar in the pre-quarterfinals of the Senior National snooker championship at Jammu on Monday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena

JAMMU JAN. 6. Teenager Pankaj Advani lived up to his reputation, overcoming a feisty Asian Games gold medallist Rafath Habib, to make it to his maiden semifinals in the 69th Senior National snooker championship at the Hari Niwas Palace here on Monday.

Fighting mild fever and the highly rated opponents, Pankaj yet again proved that he is the torchbearer of India's cue sport.

Pankaj had taken 3-0 lead to give Rafath the scare. But Rafath exhibited great fighting spirit by reducing the margin 3-2, including a break of 81 in the fourth frame.

Pankaj was unable to play safety shots to perfection in the fifth, but he won the sixth frame 76-0 to give himself another chance. Rafath struggled with the top table pocket as easy sailing failed to work.

Still he managed to win the seventh frame and as the match entered a tense phase, Rafath's nerves gave up. With Pankaj having a lead of just four points at 35-31 and three reds on, Habib played a poor safety and then missed the blue. Then it was 44-37 with all colour balls on the table.

Pankaj pocketed the yellow but made poor safety but Habib could get only the green and sold the brown. Nothing stopped Pankaj from clearing next three balls and a place in the semifinals.

In the bottom half, the familiar faces continued to dominate. Former Asian champion Yasin Merchant and long-potter Dharminder Lilly will meet in the evening semifinals, which promises to be one of kind of a thriller.

Yasin favourite for title

Given the circumstances, Yasin should be the favourite for the title. Merchant has yet to lose a frame--he blanked all his opponents in the league and also in the two knockout matches played on Monday.

Against Brijesh Damani of Bengal, Yasin cruised through to a 5-0 win with 93-23, 100-5, 70-0, 76-48, 86-26, scoreline. In the pre-quarterfinals, Merchant polished the highest break of the tournament--an unfinished 135 with 11 blacks, two pinks, a blue and the table clearance.

Lilly meanwhile stopped the march of qualifier, Varun Taneja, beating the Railwayman 5-2 after having lost the second frame in a blackball play-off.

Siddharth Parikh held aloft the flag of the qualifiers by taking out Kamal Chawla of Madhya Pradesh, 43-70, 52-45, 26-54, 51-69, 73-36, 72-65, 68-34, 59-12.

Asian Games camper Kamal Chawla had surprised one and all by knocking out the defending champion, Alok Kumar, in a classic duel that lasted till all the seven frames.

Of late, Kamal has had improved his game by many notches, particularly after attending the preparatory camps for the Busan Asian Games. Attempting long pots with confidence, Kamal lived on little luck and more hard work to vanquish the champion.

On his only second loss at the pre-quarters stage since he made debut 16 years ago, Alok said that he started badly and "I made very bad safety shots". Alok had failed to reach quarterfinals in the 1995 Bhuveneshwar Nationals.

Kamal won the first frame quite comfortably and with Alok's safety not working to the perfection it is generally known for, the Madhya Pradesh cueist rode on that extra luck.

``My shortcoming was that I was not able to make some good breaks. Only in the sixth frame I made a 62 through some fluke shots. Basically, today I was not in control of the ball,'' Alok said.

The centre table had everything to offer--easy pockets and fine green baize--but nothing worked in Alok's favour.

Kamal was on fire as he potted from long distance with remarkable success. Making a refined break of 74, which was studded with three blacks, three pinks, a blue, brown and green each, and four colour balls, Kamal shook Alok's confidence.

Though Alok evened the frames at 2-2, Kamal replied with a 71 in the next and put extra pressure on Alok to perform.

Known to perform better under such conditions, the Punjab cueist took the first opportunity and moved to the top table and compiled a break of 62. Kamal had no choice but to concede that frame, but he kept himself on fire for the decider.

In two visits, Kamal raised his score to a handy 30-point lead. With just one red on, both the players opted for safety before Kamal came up with what turned out to be the match-winning shot.

The hand-ball lay near the bottom pocket and Kamal took the red at the top table with a booming shot, and went on to follow it up with the colour ball. Then, yellow was on and all the other balls were also nicely positioned for the clearance. Realising the situation Alok resigned and shook hands with Kamal.

In what was being billed as the toughest pre-quarterfinal contest, Pankaj Advani turned the tables on the fourth seeded Rishabh Thukral, smashing him 4-0. Bengal junior Brijesh Damani held himself together for seven frames before dispatching off the seasoned Shyam Jagtiani, 81-46, 33-81, 70-69, 69-27, 32-74, 38-61, 65-27. Having taken 3-0- lead, Brijesh slackened a bit and Jagtiani found the room to sneak in.

In the decider, however, Brijesh made good breaks and played nice safety shots forcing Jagtiani to surrender. Then, he ran into Yasin Merchant.

Elsewhere, playing his maiden snooker senior Nationals, qualifier Siddharth Parikh progressed with a 4-1 win against Punjab number two Ashish Dhanda. In a match between two qualifiers, Varun Taneja got the best of Sourav Kothari 4-2, while Lilly and Merchant were flawless in their wins.

The results: quarterfinals: Siddharth Parikh (Rly) bt Kamal Chawla (MP) 5-3 (43-70, 52-45, 26-54, 51-69, 73-36, 72-65, 68-34, 59-12); Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Rafath Habib (Rly) 5-3 (83-22, 84-0, 84-46, 22-81, 12-61, 76-0, 8-81, 65-40); Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Brijesh Damani (Ben) 5-0 (93-23, 100-5, 70-5, 76-48, 86-26); Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt Varun Taneja (Rly) 5-2 (76-7, 60-67, 66-24, 58-15, 50-59, 74-20, 77-7).

Pre-quarterfinals: Kamal Chawla bt Alok Kumar (Pun) 4-3 (77-30, 37-68, 99-13, 48-62, 72-40, 31-69, 47-12); Siddharth Parikh bt Ashish Dhanda (Pun) 4-1 (68-30, 62-52, 80-20, 23-62, 82-49); Rafath Habib bt Kamal Rohmetra (J and K) 4-2 (44-51, 83-20, 79-35, 54-58, 97-26, 55-47); Pankaj Advani bt Rishabh Thukral (Del) 4-0 (86-23, 74-23, 70-0, 63-12); Yasin Merchant bt Kanishk Jhanjharia (MP) 4-0 (61-53, 69-3, 140-4, 81-32); Brijesh Damani bt Shyam Jagtiani (Rly) 4-3 (81-46, 33-81, 70-69, 69-27, 32-74, 38-61, 65-27); Varun Taneja bt Sourav Kothari (Ben) 4-2 (0-90, 81-53, 75-40, 42-75, 54-25, 57-56); Dharminder Lilly bt A. Haque (Ori) 4-0 (62-48, 85-15, 50-41, 95-7).

Semifinal pairings: Siddharth Parikh vs. Pankaj Advani; Yasin Merchant vs. Dharminder Lilly.

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