Panchal wins thriller

Trailing 0-2 against CCI’s Gautam Jagtiani who was in good form,Panchal rallied to a 29-65,18-78,78-22,69-64,70-23 win.

After snatching the second frame with significant breaks of 40 and 30,Jagtiani looked set to cause an upset. But Panchal enjoyed a substantial lead to take the third frame and clinched the fourth narrowly.

In another close tie,Jagdale of North Indian Association upset formidable Kaizad Fitter of Bombay Gymkhana 53-10,62-28,8-58,28-62,71-59.

Jagdale squandered a 2-0 advantage after winning the first two frames as Fitter made a splendid comeback to force the decider.

The match could have gone either way as Jagdale trailed by 17 points in the fifth and final frame. But a brilliant clearance from the green saw him through as Fitter looked on helplessly.

Karan Dharni Dharka of CCI ended an exciting day with an impressive 60-31,11-59,32-76,62-32,57-47 win over Monu Choudhary of Delhi.

Faisal Khan of Railways,who won the Atlas 9-ball pool title in Mumbai recently,was the first to qualify for the second phase following a 104-0,62-25,74-8 fourth round win over Gaurav Prabhu that included a break of 104 in the opening frame.

Results (4th Rd): Faisal Khan (Rlys) bt Gaurav Prabhu 104(104)-0,62-25,74-8.

3rd Rd: Merzdi Kalyaniwala (Bombay Gym) bt Abhinay Eloke 38-30,84(77)-14,89(79)-12; Vivek Chopra (Jalandhar) bt Shravan Mota (PSPB) 55-43,39-60,74-41,52-80,50-20; Manav Panchal (Malabar Hill Club) bt Gautam Jagtiani (CCI) 29-65,18-78(40,30),78-22,69-64,70-23; Mahesh Jagdale (North Indian Assn) bt Kaizad Fitter (Bombay Gym) 53-10,62-28,8-58,28-62,71-59; Karan Dharni Dharka (CCI) bt Monu Choudhary (Delhi) 60-31,11-59,32-76,62-32,57-47; Arun Agrawal (Mumbai) bt Mithil Shinde 60-57,29-51,59-19,76(46)-3.