Marquee players Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta had easy outings on the first day of the 3rd Kolkata Open National Invitation Snooker Championship 2017 organised by the West Bengal Billiards Association at the Bengal Rowing Club, even as Dharminder Lilly, the current world champion (Masters) bit the dust against Laxman Rawat.
Kolkata boy and Arjuna Awardee Sourav Kothari was stretched to six games before finally prevailing over the reigning West Bengal State Champion Benay Agarwal.
Playing against Dharminder Lilly, Delhi cueist Laxman Rawat quickly won the first three games before the current world champion (Masters) staged a comeback with a 08-62 win, but could not sustain the momentum, losing 49-47 to hand a 4-1 win to Rawat.
Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta won their matches with identical scores of 4-0 against Sreevardhar Poddar and Benay Agarwal respectively. Aditya Mehta, the country’s only professional snooker player and the current National Snooker Champion, notched up the day’s biggest break of 102 in the third game.
The current India No. 2 in billiards, Sidharth Parikh, won a see-saw battle against Sandeep Gulati that went the full distance of seven games. Gulati won the first two games but Parikh drew level in the next two. Gulati and Parikh won the next two games respectively. It was only in the last game that Parikh managed to pull ahead 59-17, to seal the tie. SCORES
LAXMAN RAWAT beat DHARMINDER LILLY :: 4-1 (63-47, 111(98)-00, 60-33, 08-62, 49-47)PANKAJ ADVANI beat SREEVARDHAN PODDAR :: 4-0 (62-51,72-01,70-27, 72(58)-15)ADITYA MEHTA beat BENAY AGARWAL :: 4-0 (79-36, 69(63)-17, 102(102)-00, 77(63)-45)BRIJESH DAMANI beat SHOIAB KHAN :: 4-1 (65-42, 79-06, 77-32, 40-54, 87(74)-00)SOURAV KOTHARI beat BENAY AGARWAL :: 4-2 (72-40, 77-00, 42-57, 54-68, 63-14, 92(88)-14)SIDHARTH PARIKH beat SANDEEP GULATI :: 4-3 (22-56, 23-71, 62-48, 69-05, 31-65, 60-47, 59-17)LUCKY VATNANI beat PUSHPENDER SINGH :: 4-2 (64-09, 11-118(80C),106(106)-01, 47-72, 71-17, 67-44MANAN CHANDRA beat RAJESH TULSIAN :: 4-0 (75-6, 61-53, 63-24, 57-27SHAHBAZ KHAN beat RAVI GOENKA :: 4-0 (60-10, 69-37, 67-34, 93-28)SANDEEP GULATI beat ANIL PODDAR :: 4-0 (62-34, 71-08, 65-51, 77-10)LUCKY VATNANI beat RAVI GOENKA :: 4-1 (60-13, 66-24, 51-52, 72-25, 54-42)FAISAL KHAN beat ANIL PODDAR :: 4-0 (64-20, 88-11, 46-16, 87(60)-00)ALOK KUMAR beat MANISH JAIN :: 4-0 (71-16, 59-46, 96(66)-31, 78-08)SIDHARTH PARIKH beat SANDEEP GULATI :: 4-3 (22-56, 23-71, 62-48, 69-05, 31-65, 60-47, 59-17)SREEVARDHAN PODDAR beat SHOIAB KHAN :: 4-1 (57-53, 13-61, 54-17, 54-43, 51-18)ALOK KUMAR beat RAJESH TULSIAN :: 4-1 (55-31, 73-48, 62-48, 44-56, 63-09)PUSHPENDER SINGH beat SHAHBAZ KHAN :: 4-1 (53(52)-63, 78-40, 80-58, 64-31, 63-44)LAXMAN RAWAT beat ROHIT RAJGHARIA :: 4-1 (68(40)-12, 86-26, 77-39, 33-59, 60-40)
PRO-AM RESULTS
GLOSTER LIMITED beat MIMANI GROUP :: 3-1 (64-40, 58-62, 80-52, 61-54)SHREE CEMENT beat MIMANI GROUP :: 3-0 (76-62, 68-41, 76-43)GLOSTER LIMITED beat BMD GROUP :: 3-2 (67-41, 35-61, 78-56, 29-82, 71-59)KALAWATI beat MESCAB :: 3-0 (67-34, 69-24, 69-58)BAAZAR KOLKATA beat TEARAJA :: 3-0 (74-41, 78-70, 80-55)NATURAL PRODUCTS beat APARNAA :: 3-0 (55-48, 65-51, 60-38)BHOJ beat SPACE GROUP :: 3-2 (33-70, 76-57, 76-54, 65-70, 84-41)MP PORTFOLIO beat SUPREME METALS :: 3-2 (07-46, 57-64, 62-27, 71-25, 67-52)MP PORTFOLIO beat UNISPORT INFRA :: 3-0 (65-26, 75-46, 80-55)TVS - SUBIR UDYOG beat SUPREME METALS :: 3-1 (60-57, 26-67, 68-11, 60-44)