Arantxa Sanchis wins National Billiards title

Arantxa Sanchis

Kolkata, Jan 22 (IANS)

Maharashtra's Arantxa Sanchis clinched the women's billiards title, edging past her more experienced opponent and state-mate Meenal Thakur at the National Billiards and Snooker Championship here at the Bengal Rowing Club Thursday.

The 24-year-old played a patient game and kept her composure intact even when Thakur snatched the third frame 27-75, and then proceeded to play some fine shots in the fourth and final frame to leave Thakur second-best with the score reading 77-19.

The match-end tally read 4-1 in Sanchis's favour with the scoreline at 75-74, 75-45, 27-75, 77-19.

Sanchis had earlier demolished Vidya Pillai 2-0 in the quarters and Chitra M. of Karnataka 2-0 in the semis.

Meenal came into the finals after winning a see-saw battle 2-1 against Karnataka's R. Umadevi.

In men's snooker, Delhi youngster Avinash Kumar, who had won the Junior Snooker title, showed that he had the big match temperament to take on and beat much more fancied opponents.

In the senior men's knock-out round of 32, he eliminated Rafath Habib who has previously represented India at the Busan Asian Games 4-3 with scores reading 29-83, 72-46, 13-80, 54-80, 52-27, 61-31, 68-58.

Senior Men's Snooker Knock-out

Round of 32

Pankaj Advani (PSPB) beat Anupam Jha (BH) 4-0

86-06, 72-6, 88-9, 96-6

Sundeep Gulati (DL) beat Vipin Premi (UP) 4-2

76-01, 15-122, 66-39, 75-00, 45-47, 65-50

Alok Kumar (PSPB) beat Laxman Rawat (MH) 4-0

110-11, 67-23, 60-23, 57-23

Faisal Khan (RSPB) beat Arshad Zama (WB) 4-3

98-00, 10-124, 25-62, 66-38, 85-38, 7-78, 62-48

Dharminder Lilly (PB) beat Ishpreet Chadha (MH) 4-2

54-74, 77-7, 84-7, 44-73, 84-64, 61-20

Dhwaj Haria (PSPB) beat I. V. Rajiv (AP) 4-2

87-32, 87-0, 24-60, 0-70, 79-15, 52-45

Himanshu Jain (TLGN) beat Anuj Uppal (DL) 4-2

95-42, 23-73, 71-30, 41-65, 81-15, 69-28

Shahbaaz Adil Khan beat Rajat Khaneja 4-3

81-20, 22-84, 29-49, 99-31, 62-38-38-54, 72-08

Manan Chandra (PSPB) beat Manish Jain (WB) 4-1

58-54, 96(78)-9, 82-89, 69-56, 68(52)-22

Shivam Arora (BH) beat Rupesh Shah (PSPB) 4-2

94(68)-19, 61-11, 37-90, 38-70, 72-31, 76-33

Monu Chaudhary beat Ankit Kariwala 4-2

84-11, 60-04, 92-14, 25-65, 11-83(78), 76-35

Devendra Joshi (PSPB) beat Lalrina Renthlei (MZ) 4-3

09-60, 91(64)-09, 57-66, 52-63, 86-17, 71-58, 65-38

Varun Madan beat Siddharth Parikh 4-1

70-58, 09-126(126), 70-28, 68-31, 79-07

Brijesh Damani beat Bharat Sisodiya 4-0

69-38, 82(68)-31, 63-14, 76-38

Avinash Kumar (DL) beat Rafath Habib (RSPB) 4-3

29-83, 72-46, 13-80, 54-80, 52-27, 61-31, 68-58

Kamal Chawla (RSPB) beat Manav Panchal (Mh) 4-1

73(62)-63, 50-62, 95-21, 64-34, 74-35

Pre-Quarter final scores:

Pankaj Advani (PSPB) beat Sundeep Gulati (DL) 4-0

72(71)-08, 93(62)-24, 91(52)-01, 80(72)-00

Dharminder Lilly (PB) beat Dhwaj Haria (PSPB) 4-0

69-23, 61-45, 65-45, 56-50

Kamal Chawla (RSPB) beat Avinash Kumar (DL) 4-0

63-44, 113(103)-00, 102(46)-16, 75(56)-08

Manan Chandra beat Shivam Arora 4-2

51-53, 70-54, 107(58)-24, 65-14, 09-121(121), 59-36