Billiards: Defending Champion Sourav Kothari survives scare at National Billiards Championship

Sourav Kothari

Kolkata, January 14 (IANS)

Top cueists on display at the National Billiards Championship had a relatively easy day out on the board, except Sourav Kothari who survived a stern challenge from local boy Aamer Hossain to fight again at the Bengal Rowing Club Tuesday.

Rupesh Shah (PSPB) registered easy wins over Neeraj Kumar (RSPB) 3-0 with the scoreline reading 101(63)-0, 100(100)-12, 100(78)-26; and Amit Sharma (Delhi) 3-1 with scores of 101(81)-0, 101(72)-16, 89-100(65), 100(100)-02.

Kothari, the defending champion, however, went down 0-2 against Hossain but then came back strong to first level and then edge past the latter to make it 3-2 and clinch the issue, 27-101(83), 90(51)-102, 100(53)-2, 100-30, 101-29

As expected, Pankaj Advani (PSPB) played flawless billiards to beat S. Simhachalam (RSPB) 3-0: 102(102)-00, 101-72, 100(51)-55.

Scores

Group A

Sourav Kothari (PSPB) beat Aamer Hossain 3-2: 27-101(83), 90(51)-102, 100(53)-2, 100-30, 101-29

Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) beat C. Vijayaram (TN) 3-1: 102-18, 100-74, 85-100, 102-35

Rafath Habib (RSPB) beat S. Shankar Rao (Andhra Pradesh) 3-0: 101-74, 100-21, 100-86

Aamer Hussain (West Bengal) beat S. Shankar Rao (Andhra Pradesh) 3-1: 27-102(81), 100-37, 102-36, 100(64)-85(65)

Rafath Habib (RSPB) beat C. Vijayaram (Tamil Nadu) 3-0: 102-41, 101-43, 101-80

Sourav Kothari (PSPB) beat Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) 3-0: 101(50)-31, 102(82)-38, 100-84

Group B

Alok Kumar (PSPB) beat Ankit Kariwala (West Bengal) 3-0: 101(67)-16, 100(52)-79, 101-58

Ankit Kariwala (West Bengal) beat Rakesh R. Pradhan (Orissa) 3-0: 101-79, 100-98, 101-09

Alok Kumar (PSPB) beat Shivam Arora (Bihar) 3-0: 101-02, 101(92)-09, 100-15

Vishal Madan (Maharashtra) beat I.H. Manudev (Karnataka) 3-1: 100-52, 48-100, 100-77, 100-12

Alok Kumar (PSPB) beat Vishal Madan (Maharashtra) 3-2: 101-64, 77-100, 100-64, 13-101, 100-06

Shivam Arora (Bihar) beat Rakesh R. Pradhan (Orissa) 3-0: 100-62, 101-17, 100-93

I.H. Manudev (Karnataka) beat Rakesh R. Pradhan (Orissa) 3-0: 100-52, 100-77, 100(62)-27

Group C

B. Bhaskar (Karnataka) beat Kankan Shamsi (Uttar Pradesh) 3-0: 100-27, 100-08, 100-55

Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) beat Ketan Chawla (Madhya Pradesh) 3-0: 100(55)-82, 103(56)-88, 100-38

B. Bhaskar (Karnataka) beat Aditya Agrawal (RSPB) 3-1: 100(67)-50(47), 85(70)-101(54), 100(100)-0, 100-42

Himanshu Jain (Telengana) beat Ketan Chawla (Madhya Pradesh) 3-0: 100-98, 100-40, 100-27

Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) beat Himanshu Jain (Telengana) 3-2: 100-59, 87-101, 102-59, 85-101, 103(90)-02

Aditya Agrawal (RSPB) beat Ketan Chawla (Madhya Pradesh) 3-0: 100(96)-00, 100(51)-39, 102(48)-66

Group D

S. Mumtaz Ali (Jharkhand) beat Manish Jain (West Bengal) 3-1: 31-101, 100-34, 100-61, 100(89)-0

Abhimanyu Gandhi (Gujarat) W/O Divya Sharma (Haryana)

Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) beat Abhimanyu Gandhi (Gujarat) 3-0: 101(74)-02, 100-65, 104(93)-06

Arun Agarwal (Maharashtra) W/O Divya Sharma (Haryana)

S. Mumtaz Ali (Jharkhand) beat Abhimanyu Gandhi (Gujarat) 3-0: 101-62, 101-17, 100-79

Manish Jain (West Bengal) beat Arun Agarwal (Maharashtra) 3-0: 100(61)-69(57),100(90)-69(61), 101(53)-70

Group E

Rupesh Shah (PSPB) beat Neeraj Kumar (RSPB) 3-0: 101(63)-0, 100(100)-12, 100(78)-26

Shyam Jagtiani (West Bengal) beat Anupam Jha (Bihar) 3-0: 102(59)-41, 100-31, 102-6

Siddharth Parikh (RSPB) W/O Aneesh Saini (Haryana)

Shyam Jagtiani (West Bengal) W/O Aneesh Saini (Haryana)

Siddharth Parikh (RSPB) beat Neeraj Kumar (RSPB) 3-0: 102(43)-84(56), 100-20, 101-04

Rupesh Shah (PSPB) beat Amit Sharma (Delhi) 3-1: 101(81)-0, 101(72)-16, 89-100(65), 100(100)-02

Group F

Brijesh Damani (PSPB) beat Chandu Kansodaria (Maharashtra) 3-0: 101-24, 101-30, 101-31

Ashok Shandilya (RSPB) beat D. Rajkumar (Karnataka) 3-0: 101-41, 101-36, 101(71)-20

Parthiv Jhaveri (Gujarat) beat Anseth Pareira (Jharkhand) 3-0: 101-35, 100(50)-17, 102-79

D. Rajkumar (Karnataka) beat Parthiv Jhaveri (Gujarat) 3-1: 46-100, 101-34, 102(99)-43, 100-87

Brijesh Damani (PSPB) beat Hritik 3-1: 45-101, 102-54, 100-86, 100-54

Ashok Shandilya (RSPB) beat Chandu Kansodaria (Maharashtra) 3-0: 100(53)-71(63), 100-0, 100-0

Group G

Devendra Joshi (PSPB) beat Subrat Das (Orissa) 3-0: 101(91)-9, 101-50, 101(79)-73

Nikhil Ghadge (RSPB) beat Malkeet Singh (RSPB): 100-14, 100(57)-86, 100-46

Devendra Joshi (PSPB) beat Nikhil Ghadge (RSPB) 3-1: 101-82, 102-53, 98-101, 101(101)-31

I.V. Rajeev (Andhra Pradesh) beat Subrat Das (Orissa) 3-1: 100(55)-38, 101-65, 99-102, 100-24

Malkeet Singh (RSPB) W/O Sanjay Bisht (Uttarakhand)

Subrat Das (Orissa) beat Malkeet Singh (RSPB) 3-2: 101-93, 96-101, 64-102, 101-96, 100-68

I.V. Rajeev (Andhra Pradesh) beat Puneet Kaushik (Delhi) 3-0: 101-45, 101-40, 100-68

Group H

Pankaj Advani (PSPB) beat S. Simhachalam (RSPB) 3-0: 102(102)-00, 101-72, 100(51)-55

Durga Prasad (RSPB) beat Ranjit M.N. (Telengana) 3-1: 64-100, 101-84, 100-34, 100-57

S. Shrikrishna (Tamil Nadu) beat Durga Prasad (RSPB) 3-1: 100-55, 57-105(60), 100-50, 100(83)-66

Jaiveer Dhingra (Maharashtra) beat Subodh Lahiri (Uttar Pradesh) 3-0: 100-25, 102(56)-18, 101-80