Report 8

Even if the Men’s section of the Casa Copenhagen was attracting heightened excitement and tension, the Ladies section held the focus of the Casa Copenhagen 6 red snooker national championship here at the Sports club of Gujarat complex.

The eleventh day of the 13 day snooker carnival organized jointly by the Gujarat State Billiards Association & the Sports Club of Gujarat under the auspices of the Billiards & Snooker Federation Of India aroused a lot of interest, drama and snooker skills emanating from the high voltage matches on Monday.

Varsha Sanjeev, the high performing girl frm Karnataka was unshaken though she trailed her senior partner from Bengaluru, Chitra Maghimairaj, losing the first two frames of the best of five frames contest.

Chitra seemed to be on the ascendancy but Varsha got her act going to not only take the ensuing third and fourth frames but was right on top in the deciding fifth frame too to clinch the tie by 10-38, 23-46, 44-13, 37-15 and 55-19 points to March into the semi finals.

On the other table, Indore based International, Amee Kamani was waging a valiant battle against Veteran International from Bengaluru, Revanna Uma Devi Nagraj.

Uma was right on cue leading by two frames to one after the third frame.

Nevertheless, Amee struck good form here at this stage, potting with alacrity and assurance to not only win the fourth frame but also wrest the decisive final frame without much bother and sail into the semis.

National snooker champion, Vidya Pillai had no difficulty in her quarter final match against Delhi’s Keerath Bhandaal as she scripted a straight three frames victory by 64-05, 49-26 and 32-17 points.

Aranxta Sanchis of Maharashtra, the Pune based International was at the same time, on another table having a gala time as she easily won the first frame of her match with TamilNadu’ young star, Anupama Ramchandran.

However Anupama gave a tough fight to Aranxta in the second and third frame but failed to prevent her Senior rival from winning the two frames for a 47-00, 35-23 and 32-23 points victory and entry into the last four of the ladies competition.

Earlier on, in matches which finished late on the tenth night of the tournament, Keerath Bhandaal had blanked out Indira Gowda by 3-0 frames, Vidya had defeated R Uma devi by3-0 frames, and Anupama Ramchandran and Amee Kamani had recorded identical 3-1 victories over Chitra Maghimairaj and Aranxta Sanchis to complete the last eight line up in the ladies section.

Meanwhile in the Men’s section, showing his calibre and solid match temperament, the Golden Boy of Cue Sports, Pankaj Advani downed the only Professional star snooker player of the country, Aditya Mehta in seven frames in the best of nine quarter final tie which showcased the quality of the game of the two top notch cueists, the pride of the country.

Although it was Aditya who set the tone in the very first frame of the contest with a classy break of 65 to take the frame, Pankaj in a determined display of tight safety play mixed with precision potting wrested the next three frames on a trot to lead by 3-1 frames. Aditya got one back by winning the fifth frame but that was as far as he could go

Pankaj executed his tactical percentage game to a fault in an all most perfect manner.

Executing his strokes with deadly accuracy he snatched the sixth and seventh frames to win the contest by 00-65, 42-00, 37-31, 45-07, 05-48, 34-00 and 50-23 points and emerge victorious to enter the quarter finals to be played on Tuesday morning.

Pushpinder Singh, the present no. 4 in Indian snooker coasted to a well deserving seven frames victory over former Asian gold medalist in team event, his compatriot from RSPB, Malkeet Singh who seemed to be weary after his long 5 hours match with Rupesh Shah earlier.

Pushpinder appeared to be the more assured player in potting as well as in playing safe as he prevailed over Malkeet by 45-22, 34-13, 53-05, 67-04, 04-46, 11-27 and 49-13 points to set up a clash with Ishpreet Singh Chadha of Maharashtra.

Ishpreet registered an identical five frames to two victory over Varun Madan of Delhi beating him by 38-34, 40-28, 00-63, 33-26, 52-14, 08-25 and 51-01 points.

Akshay Kumar, the star player of Uttar Pradesh who finished as No. 1. In the India camp before the IBSF world 6 red snooker championship held last year in Turkey put paid to the hopes of the Telengana youngster, Himanshu Jain in eight grinding frames.

Akshay won by 40-07, 14-42, 37-05, 09-40, 50-20, 13-32, 45-06 and 46-18 points.

Akshay faces Pankaj Advani now.

In another match “Mr Style” The PSPB player from Kolkata, Sourav Kothari won his match against the RSPB player, Mohammad Husain in seven frames outplaying him by 15-27, 20-32, 51-01, 48-11, 61-00, 40-13 and 49-00 points to enter the last eight where he now plays another PSPB player based in Kolkata, Brijesh Damani.

Brijesh Damani won his match against Piyush Kushwaha of Madhya Pradesh by five frames to one in an almost one sided match which saw Brijesh take no chances against the aggressive Piyush.

In his over anxiety to get on with the game, Piyush over tried and Brijesh capitalized to secure the frames one by one, eventually winning the match with a degree of comfort at 49-27, 44-28, 31-13, 54-08, 05-56 and 43-06 points.

The last to qualify for the last eight stage was Delhi’s Nitesh Madan employed by the Central Railway in Mumbai. Nitesh beat his Delhi city mate, the present Indian snooker Master’s champion Anuj Uppal in six frames in another one sided encounter.

Nitesh beat Anuj by 49-16, 32-29, 36-08, 18-37, 00-40 and 47-40 points to face Tamil Nadu star, Vijay Nichani.

Vijay playing on the other table coming out unscathed in a nine frames scorcher with the local Gujarat hero, Dhvaj Haria.

At one stage Dhvaj was sitting pretty after pocketing the first three frames of the best of nine frames battle but Vijay, true to his name rallied back magnificently to stage a brilliant comeback and emerge on the top with a splendid victory over Dhvaj by 00-63, 11-56, 07-60, 34-23, 06-66, 48-14, 55-18, 61-00 and 39-01 frames.

Ishtmit Singh Malik

Media Coordinator,

BSFI. Net

Report 6

The Casa Copenhagen 6 red snooker national championship jointly organized by the Gujarat State Billiards Association & the Sports club of Gujarat under the auspices of the Billiards & Snooker Federation Of India had a colour to the proceedings as the LDies event also began along with the Main Draw of the Men’s section.

The Ladies have been drawn in two league groups to start with four qualifying from each group playing on a round – robin basis.

Promising Ishika Shah of MP based in Indore stArted off very well taking the first frame agInst Tamil Nadu champion, Anupama Ramchandran and was also poised for the second frame but a wrong choice of the available red, playing with the spider even when she had a chance to avail of a red available to be potted in the cente pocket brought her down fall as not only did Anupama snatch the se ond frame but she followed it up by wresting the third and fourth frame to win by 3-1 frames in the best of five frames battle at 22-33, 47-46, 41-00 and 60-06 points.

In another tie, indira Gowda of Karnataka took one frame off before going down to International lady player from MP,Mee Kamani by 17-55, 36-06, 44-09 and 00-61points.

Also taking off a frame from Pune based International, Aranxta Sanchis, Neeta Kothari of West Bengal went down fighting in four frames. Amee won by 55-17, 06-36, 44-09 and 61-00 points.

Neeta Sanghvi of Maharashtr was another player showing off a gutsy performance before losing to Karnataka International Revanna Uma Devi Nagraj who won by 22-49, 41-04, 49-08 and 51-18 points.

In other matches,

Vidya PillI beat Neeta Sanghvi by 3-1 frames.

Aranxta Sanchis beat Sanvi Shah by 3-1 frames.

Uma Devi beat Aanya Patel by 3-1 frames.

Amee Kamani beat Neeta Kothari by 3-0 frames.

Varsha Sanjeev beat indira Gowda by 3-0 frames.

Keerath Bhandaal beat Neeta Kothari by 3-0 frames.

Chitra Maghimairaj beat Neeta Sanghvi by 3-0 frames.

Vidya Pillai beat Aanya Patel by 3-0 frames.

Vidya PillI beat Anupama Ramchandran by 3-0 frames.

Meanwhile in the Men’s section some interesting matches were witnessed as the Main draw league matches commenced.

Indore based MP cueist, ketan Chawla created a flutter as he downed fancied Sundeep Gulati of Delhi in seven frames winning the seven frames engrossed by 35-30, 27-38, 19-40, 44-11, 34-03, 14-43 and ₹6-18 points.

However Sundeep’s state mate, former 2014 six red champion, Varun Madan was right on cue as he quelled the challenge of Manav Panchal of Maharashtra winning by 41-20, 05-36, 00-35, 29-28, 68-00, 20-34 and 51-13. The turning point of the match when Varun compiled a well crafted break of 68 in the fifth frame to gain a vital lead.

Another former champion ., Shivam Arora also was in great form as he dkwned Dhruv Sitwala in six frames by 17-34, 39-00, 16-33, 44-10, 45-10 and 38-08 points.

In other matches:-

Rupesh Shah beat Rafath Habib by 4-1 frames.

Alok Kumar beat Dhruv Agarwal by 4-1 frames.

Himanshu Jain beat Paras Gupta by 4-1 frames.

Pushpinder Singh beat ML LKshman by 4-2 frames.

Vinay Nichani beat Joy Mehra by 4-1 frames.

Hrithik Jain beat Malkeet Singh by 4-2 frames.

Karthick BC beat jaison Malhotra by 4-2 frames.

Shahbaz Adil Khan beat S Shri krishna by 4-2 frames.

R Girish beat Het Patel by 4-2 frames.

Siddarth Parikh beat Nilesh Chauhan by 4-3 frames.

Akshay Kumar beat Hasan Badami by 4-2 frames.

Kamal Chawla beat MMohd. Husain Khan by 4-3 frames.

anuj Uppal beat Abhishek Ahuja by 4-1 frames.

Subrat Das beat Soubhagya Behra by 4-2 frames.

Faisla Khan beat Saad Sayed by 4-1 frames.

Abhimanyu Gandhi beat K Srinu by 4-3 frames.

Ishtmit Singh Malik

Media Coordinator,

6 red snooker nationals

Report 5

The Casa Copenhagen 6 red snooker national championship 2020 jointly organized by the Gujarat State Billiards Association & the Sports Club of Gujarat under the auspices of the Billiards & Snooker Federation Of India even as it entered the sixth day of the 13 days snooker extravaganza saw the advent of the lading lady cueists of the country at the premises of the Sports Club of Gujarat here on Thursday.

Besides the pretty damsels of the “green Baize ” being seen in action on the day, this also happens to be the day when all the 40 qualifiers from the double elimination qualifying stage of the national competition of the limited edition of snooker will be decided by late evening.

From the contests of the match to qualify section, played from noon time today some high quality action was witnessed to the satisfaction of the appreciative audience gathered to watch good snooker.

Host state’s, Oswald Massey was one of the heroes in the process of qualifying for the last 64 players main round of the competition. Oswald up against the talented youngster from his very state, Johnson Narsidani was equal to the task and more as quelled the challenge of Johnson in six frames of the best of seven frames enounter winning by 45-11, 18-54, 40-23, 05-39,26-18 and 32-11 points in a match which was marked for its ” safety first ” tactics by both the cueists as they seem to know each other’s style of play well. Eventually, Oswald was the more adroit in potting effectively at crucial stages of the match to emerge victorious and qualify for the main draw.

Dhruv Agarwal of West Bengal was engaged in a tough battle of attrition with Siddarth Parikh of RSPB in a match which lasted the full distance of seven frames before Dhruv showed exemplary temperament to remain focussed even when there was a greater pressure situation, finally winning the longish tie by 01-39, 31-39, 44-08, 35-06, 32-22, 28-39 and 42-30 points to also enter the main round stage.

Suraj Rathi of Maharashtra also made it to the main round with a fine victory over Arvind Kumar of RSPB another seven frames contest. With both players tied at 3-3 it was Suraj who broke the shackles to display flowing strokes in the clinching decider potting with consummate ease to down Arvind by 43-18, 41-08, 45-22, 37-40, 01-38, 17-42 and 73-08 points. Arvind trailing by 0-3 frames rallied brilliantly to take the next thrre frames on the trot to restore parity at 3-3 but when it mattered , his nerve mattered most, he failed to deliver and Suraj capitalized well on the chances offered to win.

Parthiv Jhaveri of Gujarat played out a stellar game of snooker while getting the better of his state mate, Purvang Patel in six frames to also make the main round grade winning by 41-01, 44-01, 35-22, 16-33, 33-00, 00-41 and 40-01 points.

Het Patel also of the host state of Gujarat continued to impress as he toppled Abhinav Sharma of Punjab in five frames to join the other victors of the day in the main round. Het came out on top by 50-38, 53-18, 32-29, 28-53 and 40-13 points.

Abhishek Ahuja of Delhi proved too strong for Satyam Shivhare of MP as he also registered an emphatic victory in six frames by 32-31, 54-17, 21-41, 36-20, 23-29 and 40-10 points to qualify for the last 64 main round .

Subrat Das of Odisha was engaged in a well contested seven frames tie with Bhadresh Panchal of Gujarat before snatching victory by 28-23, 23-29, 02-33, 00-45, 45-14, 39-30 and 32-08 frames to also qualify for the main rounds. Bhadresh who plays a open game missed some key shots in the decider and Subrat made the best of the situation to emerge out unscathed.

Hasan Badami of Maharashtra was in good form as he unsettled Udit Rai of MP in four straight frames to make the main round stage winning by 34-29, 52-02, 42-12 and 47-27 points.

Even so, the one player to really steal the show in the process of qualifying for the main stage was Joy Mehra of Punjab as he trounced Taaha Khan Of Maharashtra in five frames by 20-32, 32-10, 41-00m 41-25 and 54-40 points.

Joy who plays with a ‘no nonsense “style was extremely impressive as he came back strongly

in the second frame after losing the first to level scores at 1-1 in the best of seven frames match.

A steady approach, fluent cueing, uncluttered planning of strategy and the immaculate execution of his plan were the hall marks of this seasoned campaigner as he rattled his younger opponent.

Taaha should have won the fifth frame but he wilted under the pressure built up by Joy as the victor had no difficulty to come out twice from a position where needing snookers, not only he forced Taaha to give penalty points , but also clear the needed colour balls from the yellow to the pink ball to complete the rout.

In other matches

Partiv Jhaveri beat Shoumik Mistry by 4-0 frames.

Hrithik Jain beat Sanchit Gupta by 4-2 frames.

Het Patel Beat Rohit Ravindran by 4-0 frames.

Ranveer Singh Marwah beat Ayush Mittal by 4-0 frames.

Soubhagya Behra beat Himanshu Patel by 4-0 frames.

Midhun M beat Mohsin Achhava by 4-2 frames.

Bhadresh Panchal beat Rovin D’Souza by 4-3 frames in a cliff hanger.

Sumehr Mago beat Sanket Mutha by 4-2 frames.

Abhimanyu Gandhi beat George Fernandez by 4-1 frames.

Hasan Badami beat Monu Chaudhary 4-2 frames.

Saad Sayed beat Mohd. Shoaib Khan by 4-2 frames.

Pandurangiah beat Atit Shah by 4-1 frames.

Arvind kumar beat Kashyap Shah by 4-1 frames.

Anish Parikh beat Shreyash Pednekar by 4-1 frames.

Taaha Khan Beat Rajat Khaneja by 4-3 frames in a see-saw battle.

Lakshman beat Chintamani Jhadav by 4-1 frames.

Ishtmit Singh Malik

Media Coordinator,

6 red snooker nationals

Report 1

The Casa Copenhagen 6 red snooker national championship jointly organized by the Gujarat State Billiards Association & the Sports Club Of Gujarat under the auspices of the Billiards & Snooker Federation Of India which is being played here at the Sports club of Gujarat complex as it entered its fourth day saw the advent of unheralded players take centre stage.

If seen from sideways, one may mistake him as the Indian version of a Sumo wrestler, but giving a pleasing display of his prowess in snooker, potting the balls with cracking precision, Rishi Khosla of Punjab making light of his heavy weight, was a treat to watch as he overcame Gujarat youngster, Siddhant Patel down from 0-2 frames rallying well to win the 6 red snooker battle in six frames which extended to 130 minutes.
Rishi emerging victorious by 18-37, 11-25, 35-13, 38-03, 28-27 and 44-16 points in a double elimination match of the losers side of the draw.

Local cueist, Oswald Massey was another player to impress as he won two matches on the trot. First he surmounted the tough challenge of West Bengal player, Aamer Husain in six frames by 26-18, 65-00, 23-47, 31-24, 11-58, and 35-01 chalking up a solid break of 61 in the second frame, and then up against his state mate from Gujarat, Hemendra Jadeja, he came out on top by four frames to two by 32-20, 60-01, 45-06, 21-40, 01-40 and 50-18 points.

In a very well contested seven frame affair, Gujarat player, Dhruv Patel overcame the stiff fight put up by Gaurav Malhotra of Haryana before cruising home four frames to three by 42-14, 47-51, 54-42, 41-13, 40-47, 21-35 and 50-09 points to move up in his league group.
Dhruv led by 3-1 frames but Gaurav came back strongly to pocket the fifth and sixth frames restoring parity at 3 frames all.
Here Dhruv came up with a show of some very good potting to outpoint his rival and win.

Jharkhand’s Snehanshu was another player to score a well merited four frames to three win over Ratul Pambahar in a tussle which saw a intense contest till the sixth frame.
Snehanshu unleashing some fine long pots in the deciding frame to subdue Rutul winning the tie by 18-28, 32-23, 50-25, 37-15, 12-42, 29-38 and 40-07 points.

Rohit Ravindran of Karnataka was another notable victor of the day when he prevailed over Maharashtra player Abhishek Bora by 31-02, 20-32, 37-00, 51-06, 15-26 and 45-08 points while Mittal Patel of Gujarat bowed out a four frames to two loser against Saad Sayed of Maharashtra by 12-45, 36-22, 31-09, 10-52, 24-26 and 21-48 points. Saad kept his poise when under pressure on the colours stage of the sixth frame to come out unscathed.

In other matches of the day :-
Het Patel of Gujarat beat Ayush Sinha of Bihar, a BSFI entry by 4-0 frames.
Siddarth Patni of Madhya Pradesh beat Rajiv Sahni of Gujarat by 4-1 frames.
Mohsin Chhava of Gujarat beat Varun J Kumar of Karnataka by 4-2 frames.
Abhi Patel of Gujarat beat Shivam Madan of Uttarakhand by 4-0 frames.
Anand Sheth of Gujarat beat Yateenhraj of Tamil Nadu by 4-0 frames.
Mitthun. M of Kerala beat Dhawal Makwana of Gujarat by 4-1 frames.
Madhav Joshi of Maharashtra beat Rohit T of Karnataka by 4-1 frames.
Vikrant Magoo of Punjab beat Gunjan Patel of Gujarat by 4-0 frames.
Yogesh Sharma of Maharashtra beat Honey Shah of Gujarat by 4-0 frames.
Pandurangiah of RSPB beat Ayan Shah of Gujarat by 4-0 frames compiling good breaks of 50 in the first and a 41 in the fourth.
Shreyash P. of Goa beat Sharan D of Punjab by 4-1 frames.
Anish Parikh of Jharkhand beat Neeraj Vasava of Gujarat by 4-1 frames.
Mitang Sono of Gujarat beat Omkar Naik of Goa by 4-0 frames.
Anand Tiwari of Uttar Pradesh beat Kamal Kerera of Gujarat by 4-0 frames.
Tushar Sahay of Gujarat beat Srijan Singh of Uttar Pradesh by 4-3 frames.
Naimesh Jhadav of Gujarat beat Raunaq Vajirani of Gujarat by 4-2 frames.
Ranjit Mannava of TElengana beat Vipul of Telengana by 4-1 frames.

Ishtmit Singh Malik
Media Coordinator
6 red snooker nationals

For, Gujarat State Billiards Association,

Abhishek J Shah
President

Meherzad Bhagwagar
Hon. Treasurer

Amee Kamani Bags the 2020 Senior Billiards Title

Indore based Internationally famed lady cueist of Madhya Pradesh,Amee Kamani did her state and herself proud when she bagged the Senior Ladies billiards crown in the ongoing Manisha Vascon 2020 National billiards & snooker championship being organized, so very well under the auspices of the BSFI here at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana on Wednesday morning.

Amee outclassed the young Delhi lady player, Keerath Bhandaal by three games to one in the best of 5 75 up games contest.

In a match between players of contrasting style. Keerath being very deliberate and mehodical and Amee who likes to get on with the game, it was Keerath who began well using her unusual way of taking alignment for her shots. Amee seemed to be in a state of bother due to the slow pace of the game.

However, once she got going Amee fired in breaks of a 21 and a 22 unfinished to wrest the first game.

Keerath potting well and mixing some ” Long loser” In – offs to advantage struck back to take the second game and level scores at 1-1. Reorganizing her game plan in the third, Amee notched up an unfinished break of 21 to take a 2-1 games lead.

Keerath seemed to wilt under this pressure and Amee completed the formality of taking the fourth game with a fluent nine hazards break of 27 to finish the game with a flourish.

Amee won by 76-66, 55-75, 78-39 and 75-32 points to lift the final and the title.

In the match for the third and fourth place between Revenna Uma Devi Nagraj of Karnataka and Aranxta Sanchis of Maharashtra, the young talented Aranxta was right on cue scoring with a soft touch and precision shots, especially potting from the red spot to seal the third place, a worthy winner by 75-62 and 75-54 points.

Uma who seemed a bit off colour today was content to secure the fourth place.

In the Senior Ladies snooker event which also began Renu Barkatiya beat Mayura Yolekar of Maharashtra by 2-0.

Vidya Pillai of TN beat PS Angel of AP by 2-0

Anupama. R of TN beat Sharmila Devi of Pondichery by 2-0.

Indira Gowda of Karnataka beat Shiveena Thakur of MP by 2-0 and Varsha Sanjeev beat Aanya Patel of Gujarat.

Coming over to the Men’s Senior snooker round robin league, in a match to decide the topper from their particular group, the tie which cornered all the attention of the spectators was the battle between the defending national snooker champion, Pankaj Advani and the Star snooker player of Uttar Pradesh, Paras Gupta.

The match began on a normal note as Pankaj chalked up a break of 78 to easily wrap up the first frame of the best of seven encounter, but suddenly Paras came alive with superb potting in the second helped by a break of 57 to level match score at 1-1.

Pankaj came up with a quick fire break of 57 to snatch the third frame, only to find Paras rallying very well with a break of 54 in the fourth to restore parity at 2 all.

Then came the drama in the fifth, Paras needing all the three colours left on the table, the blue, pink and black, potted the blue struck the pink a little too hard to see the ball being refused by the jaw and Pankaj, heaving a sigh of relief completed the formality to go up by 3-2 frames.

It was a disheartened Paras who lapsed into a couple of errors and Pankaj did the needful to pocket the frame and match.

Nevertheless some satisfaction came the way of Uttar Pradesh when their star 6 red snooker exponent, Akshay Kumar beat Odisha, s promising player, Asutosh Padhy by 38-43, 18-63, 64-45, 71-48, 59-58 and 60-57 points in a virtual she saw match.

Akshay trailing by 0-2 frames grinded Asutosh in the next four frames to pip him at the post winning the gripping tie on the decisive black ball. With this victory, Akshay alone with his state mate, Paras qualified for the last 32 Knock out round.

The remaining player of Uttar Pradesh in the league,Anuj Bhargava, after the losses of their other players, Vinayak Agarwal and Vishwajeet Mohan, also made his exit when he was beaten by Nitesh Madan of RSPB by 1-4 frames.

In other matches:-

Malkeet Singh of RSPB beat Suraj Rathi of MH by 4-0 frames.

Sumit Talwar of CH beat Avinash Kumar of DEL by 4-3 frames.

Manan Chandra of PSPB beat Rovin D’Souza of RSPB by 4-0 frames.

Manish Jain of WB beat Aditya Agarwal of RSPB by 4-1 frames.

Ishpreet Singh Chadha of MH beat Dig Vijay Kadian by 4-3 frames.

Varun Madan of DEL beat Mohd. Shoaib Khan of WB by 4-3 frames.

Dharminder Lilly of PUN beat IH Manudev of KAR by 4-1 frames.

AnmoldeepSingh of PUN beat Rahul Sachdev of MH by 4-1 frames.

Himanshu Jain of TLGN beat Lalrina of MIZ by 4-2.

Alok Kumar of PSPB beat Arshad Zama of WB by 4-1 frames.

Brijesh Damani of PSPB beat Mohammad Husain of RSPB by 4-0 frames.

R. Girish of RSPB beat Shivam Arora by 4-1 frames.

Divya Sharma of HAR beat Pushpinder Singh of RSPB by 4-1 frames.

Anurag Giri of MP beat Anuj Uppal of DEL by 4-1 frames.

Neeraj Khemka of WB beat Rafath Habib by 4-0 frames.

Shahbaz Khan of PSPB beat Taaha Khan of MH by 4-1 frames.

Evenso, the performer of the day was S. Shri krishna who struck breaks of 98 in the fifth and a century, a classic break of 111 in the seventh deciding frame to beat back the challenge of Khizar Raof of TLGN by 4-3 frames.

Report 2

The Casa Copenhagen 6 red snooker national championship 2020 jointly organized by the Gujarat State Billiards Association & the Sports Club of Gujarat Ltd under the auspices of the Billiards & Snooker Federation Of India which is currently in progress here at the Sports club of Gujarat premises witnessed two high quality breaks in the limited version of snooker on Sunday.

The first to break the ice block of a seventy plus points break was the PSPB star from the city of Kolkata, Brijesh Damani even as he unfurled his class on the ” Green baize” In a match against Raunaq Vajirani of Gujarat as he outclassed him in four straight frames winning with consummate ease by 55-08, 40-34, 46-09 and 72-00 points in a double elimination league outing.
Brijesh having taken an unassailable lead of three frames to nil touched peak form to pocket all the 6 red balls covering it with continual pots of the required colours following on by potting the entire colour sequence from yellow to black for a break of 72 on way to his fine victory.

But former 6 red national championship, Shivam Arora, the mercurial player who is based in Pune bettered the performance of Brijesh by one point in his match with Ranjit Mannava of Telengana when leading by an identical margin of 3-0 frames finally touched his nadir to deliver a break of 73 in the fourth frame, clearing tthe entire gamut of 6 reds, covering it with the required colours and then sweeping the table by pocketing all the balls from the yellow to the black at the colours stage chipping in a superb 73 points break.
Shivam won by 47-24, 29-09, 32-24 and 73-00 points to move up in his league group.

Harpreet Singh of Delhi playing purposefully in a show of good concentration, trounced a tough opponent in Aamer Husain of West Bengal in another match.
With the score tied at two frames all after the fourth frame in the best of seven frames match, Harpreet matched all the moves of Aamer, whether it be the tactics of safety play or it maybe prowess in potting, keeping his head down, fully focussed on the job in hand to eventually win by 34-21, 13-39, 10-56, 31-13, 32-13 and 40-20 points to come out on top in the closely contested encounter.

Veteran Kan Kan Shamsi of Uttar Pradesh had to use all his experience to get the better of the Gujarat boy, Jenil Patel In six well fought out frames. With the score at par after four frames at two all, Kan Kan played good percentage snooker to quell the challenge of Jenil who failed to cope up to the pressure of the occasion, wilting under at the end of the match.

Pony tailed, strong potting machine from Maharashtra, Manav Panchal had to strain his nerve, experience and his knowledge of snooker before he could overcome Ravish Arora of Punjab. With the match evenly poised at three frames all, Manav finally struck form in the deciding seventh frame to put paid to the hopes of his rival winning by 41-19, 41-20, 18-28, 00-45, 25-39, 51-00 and 56-17 points.

Shoaib ur Rehman from Tamil Nadu showed a lot of grit and determination in the process of recording a fine 4-2 frames victory over local boy, Hemant Jadeja putting him out by 07-38, 45-27, 36-13, 24-28, 40-21 and 30-07 points. It was an evenly matched contest even though Shoaib proved that he was the better player when he got all his crucial pots in the vital stages of the tussle.

In another match, Divyansh Shukla of Madhya Pradesh accounted for another local competitor from Gujarat, Sahil Radhani beating him in six frames by 37-39, 39-45, 40-08, 31-17, 42-17 and 52-18 points.

In other matches of the day:-
Dhruv Sitwala of PSPB beat Ayush Sinha of Bihar by 4-1 frames;
Nitesh Madan of Delhi beat Paresh Choksi of Gujarat by 4-1 frames with a break of 50 in the third frame;
Soubhagya Behra of Odisha beat Rinkesh Pathak by 4-0 frames;
S. Shri Krishna of PSPB based in Chennai beat Ayush Mital of Uttar Pradesh by 4-0 frames;
Siddarth Parikh of RSPB beat Prashant Soni of Gujarat by 4-0 frames;
Rutul Pambhar of Gujarat beat his state mate Kavin Shah by 4-1 frames;
Dhruv Agarwal of West Bengal beat Naumil Patel of Gujarat by 4-0 frames;
Ketan Chawla of Madhya Pradesh beat Himanshu Patel of Gujarat by 4-0 frames;
Faisal Khan of RSPB beat Abhishek Bora of Maharashtra by 4-0 frames;
Rohan Sakalkar of Maharashtra beat Het Patel of Gujarat by 4-1 frames;
Dhruv Singh of Telengana beat Dhawal Makwana if Gujarat by 4-1 frames;
Sanchit Gupta of Delhi beat Rohit Tirkarradi of Karnataka by 4-1 frames;
Rupesh Shah of Gujarat beat Madhav Joshi of Maharashtra by 4-0 frames;
Hrithik Jain of Madhya Pradesh beat Kaval Panchal of Gujarat by 4-0 frames.

Ishtmit Singh Malik
Media Coordinator
2020 six red snooker nationals

Keerthana Ends Anupama’s wining reign claims the title for Junior snooker

Finally Young winsome Lady from Karnataka, Keerthana Pandian broke her jinx when she outplayed triple Crown holder of the Manisha Vascon 2020 National billiards & snooker championship here on Sunday evening.

Keerthana defeated her nemesis and good friend, off the table, from Tamil Nadu, Anupama Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu in three straight frames to annexe the Junior girls snooker title of the 30 days cue sports extravaganza being organized by BSAM under the auspices of the BSFI.

Keerthana potting quite confidently and positioning her cue ball with felicity was more than a match for Anupama in the battle for the title.

Only in the third frame could Anupama make an impression, but by then Keerthana was too poised finally winning the encounter by 61-31, 59-18 and 60-50 points.

In the position to decide the third and fourth positions in junior girls snooker, Ishika Shah of Madhya Pradesh was right on top dominating the proceedings ending with a two straight frames victory over her state mate from Indore, Kanisha Jhurani winning by 64-30 and 53-09 points to get the third spot. Kanisha finished fourth.

In the meanwhile, it was a red letter day for the players from the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Out of the seven who made an appearance in the double elimination round of the Seniors snooker event, four players made it to the main rounds.

The first to draw attention was the seasoned campaigner from Prayag Raj, Vinayak Agarwal. Having lost in a decider to Hasan Badami earlier on, getting a chance from the losers side, he played some brilliant snooker to down the promising lad from Maharashtra, Sparsh Pherwani but not before the match had extended to full five frames.

Vinayak won the ” Cliff Hanger “by 47-76, 24-57, 78-29, 58-48, and 57-55 points on the decisive black ball to enter the main round.

Then followed The young Junior player from Lucknow, Vishwajeet Mohan who fought a tooth and nail five frames we’ll contested tie with Akram Khan. With the match tied at two frames all, it was anybody’s game till the last.

However, Vishwajeet kept his cool on the colours stage to wrest the frame and match for an entry into the main rounds of the Senior snooker event which starts tommorrow morning.

Playing against Sean Davis of Karnataka, UP snooker champion from Lucknow, Anuj Bhargava counted on his good experience and temperament to overwhelm his rival in four frames.

Leading by two frames to one, Anuj appeared to be in the drivers seat but Sean rallied very well to bring the frame to the black decider.

This is where Anuj was very lucky when Sean in trying a safety of the black went in- off gifting the frame and match to Anuj who won by 64-53, 41-47, 56-47 and 56-53 points to gain an entry into the main snooker round.

Yet the climax for the UP State came when Veteran cueist who turns 60 years of age next month, Kan Kan Shamsi also from Lucknow used his vast experience to a prime advantage outlasting Jammu & Kashmir player, Vidit Gawri in five fully extended frames by 64-18, 39-72, 43-47, 61-21 and 68-13 points to make the main round.

When Kan Kan trailed by 1-2 frames with Gawri potting well, all thought that it was all over for the Veteran, but suddenly mixing intelligent safety with some neat potting at crucial juncture, Kan Kan not only levelled the score at 2-2 but went on to grab the deciding frame comfortably.

In other matches to decide the player to qualify, Faisal Khan of RSPB beat Suraj Rathi of MP by 3-0 frames.

Hrithik Jain of MP beat MS Arun of Karnataka by 3-1 frames.

Manish Jain of West Bengal prevailed over Piyush Khushawa of MP by 3-2 frames.

Arshad Zama of West Bengal beat Varun Kumar of TN on the last decisive black ball winning by 3-2 frames.

And in another five frame affair Mizoram player, Lalrina R beat Younis Kuchey of J& K by 3-2 frames to qualify for the main stage.

I. S. Malik

Media Officer,

UPBSA

Report 3

The Casa Copenhagen 6 red snooker national championship 2020 jointly organized by the Gujarat State Billiards Association & The Gujarat Sports club Ltd. under the auspices of the Billiards & Snooker Federation Of India, even as it entered its second day of the 13 days snooker action here at the Gujarat Sports club Ltd complex saw intense battles of the preliminary double elimination matches of the qualifying stage.

Meherzad Bhagwagar of the hosts was right on cue as he out potted talented youngster from Maharashtra, Sumehr Mago in a six frames battle which saw fierce competition between the two cueists.

With the score level at two frames all, Meherzad came into his own pocketing the balls with assurance to wrest the fifth frame but Sumehr fought tooth and nail in the sixth frame.

The frame was now on the final black ball on the colours stage when the victor sank the decisive black ball to win the tie by 39-22, 23-33,28-18,03-37,43-00 and 47-40 points and move into the next round.

Pondicherry cueist Raj Mohan who lost his first match last evening, made amends, as he gave an improved performance to dominate the player from Goa, Ravi Kamble in four straight frames by 58-27, 41-04, 40-37 and 27-15 points.

Trailing by 0-2 frames, Ravi had a good chance to draw back in the third frame but he floundered on the final black hurdle and Rajmohan made no mistake in pocketing the decisive black to win the frame and then did not look back as he added the fourth frame for a fine victory.

Taaha Khana of Maharashtra who has an unorthodox method of cue-delivery spoiled the party for Gujarat youngster, Siddhant Patel even as the parents of Siddhant looked on disconsolately from behind the glass curtain, so well conceived by the organizers.

Taaha potted some unbelievable shots from just nowhere, as he cleared all the balls from the yellow to the black ball on the colours stage of the first frame.

With the youngster lapsing into errors from positions of strength, Taaha easily wrapped up the second and third frames for a 3-0 lead.

Siddhant finally did put up a sembalance of a fight in the fourth but Taaha closed shop with some crucial pots at the vital stages of the frame to take the frame and match by 35-22, 33-01, 36-02 and 34-17 points.

Vidit Gawri of Jammu Kashmir was In good form as he unsettled Kerala player, Midhun M despatching him in five frames rather comfortably by 34-29, 44-11, 18-24, 67-07 and 42-00 points.

Vidit set the tone of the proceedings by easily winning the first two frames but Midhun rallied wel to take the third with some good long pots.

Stung by the reverse, Vidhut, tightening his concentration unleashed his potting and cue ball control skills to clear the brown, blue, pink and black balls in the fourth frame to forge ahead by 3-1 frames. Midhun faltered yet again in the fifth leaving Vidit with a chance, and the victor did not disappoint as he unleashed a break of 35 to seal the frame and match.

Abhishek Ahuja of Delhi playing with a lot of composure was too hot for Malav Parikh of the hosts, coming out trumps in four straight frames. Breaks of 44 and 41 in the third and fourth frames were the highlight of this match as he triumphed by 40-15, 31-08, 44-00 and 41-00 points in another one sided tie.

Even so the matches which went to the wire and were difficult to chose the winner till the last stage, were the matches between Vishwajeet Mohan of Uttar Pradesh Vs. Mohsin Acharya of Gujarat and the match between Arvind Kumar of RSPB and Senketh Mutha of Maharashtra.

The first one saw Vishwajeet open up a lead of three frames to one against Mohsin, but the latter fought back valiantly to take the next two frames to restore parity at 3-3 frames.

With the tie hanging by a thread on the decisive black, Vishwajeet was the luckier one as he edged out the loser when he sank the black ball to win by 43-37, 00-47, 75-19, 42-09, 05-36, 14-40 and 39-29 points.

In the other match, Arvind who has a fine touch, was down by 1-2 frames initially as Senketh played with a lot of poise, but striking a good patch, Arvind stole the show by pocketing the two frames that mattered to come out unscathed by 35-19, 21-38, 28-40, 47-26, 40-06, 31-55 and 31-19 points.

In other matches of the day, Shabaz Adil Khan of PSPB beat Rajiv Sahani by 4-1 frames.

Mohammad Saifud din of West Bengal beat Deval Makhwana of Gujarat by 4-2 frames

Satyam Shivhare of Madhya Pradesh beat Rishi Khosla of Goa by 4-1 frames

Karmesh Patel of Gujarat beat Siddharth Patni of Madhya Pradeh of Madhya Pradesh by 4-3 frames.

K. Venkatesham of RSPB beat Anand Raghuvanshi of Maharashtra by 4-1 frames.

Rajat Khaneja of Haryana beat Shivam Madan of Uttarakhand by 4-2 frames.

Varun Kumar of Karnataka lost to P. Jhaveri of Gujarat by 4-3 frames in a virtual cliff hanger.

Syed Sikander of Tamil Nadu beat Adhi Patel of Gujarat by 4-1 frames.

Karthik BC of Karnataka beat Gaurav Malhotra of Haryana by 4-1 frames.

Jaison Malhotra of Delhi beat Yogesh Sharma of Maharashtra by 4-0 frames.

Saif Ali Khan of West Bengal beat Vikrant Mago of Punjab by 4-2 frames.

Piyush Kushawa of Madhya Pradesh beat Prateek Lal of Jharkhand by 4-1 frames.

Anurag Giri of Madhya Pradesh beat Nakul Patel of Gujarat by 4-1 frames.

Rovin D’Souza of RSPB beat Gunjan Patel of Gujarat by 4-0 frames.

Anuj Uppal of Delhi beat Dhruv Singh of Telengana by 4-1 frames.

and Harpreet Singh of Delhi beat Deep Shah of Gujarat by 4-0 frames.

Ishtmit Singh Malik

Media Coordinator,

2020 6 red snooker nationals

It’s a Triple crown glory for Anupama

PUNE 30 th January, 2020:

Even as the Qualfying section of the Seniors snooker of the Manisha Vascon 2020 National billiards & snooker championship being organized by BSAM under the auspices of the BSFI commenced here at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana, it was move over the celebrity Men of billiards and the promising boys of the 22 balls game.

The proud daughters of Indian Cue Sports took their due place on the centre stage of the 30 days extravaganza of cue sports.

Suddenly there was a hush in the environment. The ambience of the newly converted billiards Hall was witness to the feline grace of young girls from all over the country. Their coyness, the natural beauty of their carriage, their zeal for the articulations of strokes on the ” Green baize” more than made up the peace and tranquility which prevailed as the damsels with their prim and proper attire along with their cue suddenly became the focus of all appreciative eyes.

Cometh Thursday morning and two young promising girls on the Horizon of Cue sports in the country, Defending champion, Anupama Ramchandran of Tamil Nadu and the challenger for the Sub-junior girls billiards title from Karnataka, Keerthana Pandian, the best of friends, off the table were face to face for the top honours.

Anupama taking time to settle down set the tone. Keerthana who looked a little off colour on this day could not get herself into her normal groove.

Anupama chalking up breaks of 23 and 27 established a good lead of 90-43 when 20 minutes remained for the one hour match to finish. A break of 29 and Anupama was almost home. Keerthana suddenly found her rythm for a 31 break but it was too late. The bell shreiked that it was all over and Anupama had retained her Sub – junior National girls title.

In the play off for the third and fourth place Sanvi Shah of Madhya Pradesh beat her Indore based mate of Madhya Pradesh to secure the third position while Kanisha Jhurani settled for the fourth place.

Earlier in the semis, Anupama playing with great gusto was consistency personified running away a 215-75 points winner against Kanisha Jhurani while Keerthana notched up a 186-95 points victory over Sanvi Shah to set up a final clash with Anupama in the Final.

The sub junior snooker also began immediately after the completion of the billiards event with some interesting matches.

Sanvi Shah beat her Madhya Pradesh compatriot, Gauhar Tanveer by 2-0 frames whereas Anitta Biju of Kerala prevailing over Hajra Faruqui of Madhya Pradesh in straight frames by 2-0.

Mohita RT of Tamil Nadu beat Shreya Dubey by 2-0 frames.

Senthra Babu of TamilNadu defeated Priya Chauksy of Madhya Pradesh by 2-0 frames

Anupama Ramchandran beat Saumya Singh of Madhya Pradesh by 2-0 frames

Santa Patel of Gujarat beat Kanisha Jhurani of Madhya Pradesh by 2-0 frames and

Safilo Sara Benny of Tamil Nadu beat Moksha of Karnataka by 2-0 frames.

Pankaj stamps his authority once again to win National crown.

PUNE 28 th January, 2020:

The ” Golden boy of World billiards, Padma Bhushan, Pankaj Advani of PSPB reasserted his supremacy over his PSPB compatriot, Arjuna Awardee and former World Billiards champion, Sourav Kothari by five games to two in the best of nine 150 points up Manisha – Vascon 2020 National Billiards Championship here at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana.

Pankaj won the titanic battle which did not rise to the expected heights but still was not short of big breaks from both players considering the pressure of the finals. Pankaj exhibited his tactical play and acumen along with his unquestionable break building mastery. Combining the two skills, scoring and then virtually closing all the last three games with water tight safety, he planned all his moves on the ” Green baize” to a nicety and finally won by 13-150, 152-12, 151-00, 62-150, 150-45, 150-48 and 150-02 points, annexing the Seniors Billiards title of the 87th National championship.

The much awaited clash between the two super Icons of Cue sports of our country began with Sourav compiling a classic unfinished break of 131 to pocket the first game. Pankaj rallied adequately with breaks of 95 and 57 to take the second following up with a superb unfinished 151 break to gain the ascendancy.

Not to be denied, Sourav struck back with a break of 142 in the fourth restoring parity at 2-2. and it looked as if the match would go the distance but the Maestro Pankaj had other ideas.

Pouncing on the chance that came his way, Pankaj made a classy 135 break and played safe when he saw that no shot was on. Wresting the sixth game with a 94 break, Pankaj again froze the collected points and playing safe putting Sourav in a position where he could not score. With Sourav unable to keep his rival at bay, Pankaj again came up with a very useful contribution of 107 repeating the safety ploy when he found that he could not finish the game.

Sourav had no answer to this intelligent, calculated and cagey play to ultimately cave in. Pankaj collected the needed points in this game and with it the game, match and title.

In the play off for the third and fourth place, Dhwaj Haria was too hot for his PSPB mate, Brijesh Damani and won in three straight games by 150-71, 151-128 and 152-00 points. Dhwaj had a well compiled effort of 150 unfinished too in the third game to secure the match and the third position.

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