Chandra shrugs off Shroff

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 15: Delhi's Manan Chandra, in Bangalore to defend his twin junior titles, made the best of the situation to stun last ...

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 15: Delhi8217;s Manan Chandra, in Bangalore to defend his twin junior titles, made the best of the situation to stun last year8217;s runner-up Sarang Shroff 4-0 in a Group B encounter of the Lachmandas V Kalro 66th Senior National snooker championship at the KSBA Hall on Tuesday.

A fluke brown gave Chandra the first frame, with the Delhite making the most of the help from fortune to clear the colours.

Shroff was at his creative best, but at his squandering worst too simultaneously, when he handed over the chance to Chandra to clear the table in the second frame. An attempt to pot the red on the rebound, off one cushion to boot, drew appreciation from the discerning for Shroff8217;s faculties. Chandra too applauded the attempt, but must have inwardly thanked Shroff and cleared the table till blue, the three reds fetching him two blues and a green to race 2-0 ahead.

Early in the third frame, Shroff committed a foul 8220;lying on the green ball8221; to open up the flood gates for Chandra to take thelead. He later sold the brown, helping his junior opponent to a 3-0 lead in the match.

In the fourth, with the score reading 43-54, Shroff shrugged off a foul on the green, attempting to bang the pink into the top-left pocket, faltered to hand over the match.

Joshi began his match against Shah in style compiling a 44 with four blacks and an yellow to win the first frame, but there ended his success.

Shah levelled the score winning the second and took the lead pocketing the third before coming up with a 55 one black, three blues, one brown, one green and the colours to win the fourth. That 55 looked pittance compared to what Shah came up with in the fifth frame.

Results

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Senior Snooker prelimnary league: Group A: Ashok Shandilya Rlys bt Manan Nagpal Har 94-12, 71-48, 40-68, 67-28, 69-28; BVS Murthy Kar bt Kamal Chawla MP 70-32, 44-70, 86-1, 35-71, 60-44, 56-16.

Group B: Manan Chandra Del bt Mohammed Asim WB 48-73, 59-44, 68-60, 57-28, 53-43; Manan Chandra Del btSarang Shroff Mah 58-55, 72-35, 67-38, 64-55.

Group C: Devendra Joshi Mah bt Amish Parikh Bih 72-33, 53-47, 79-28, 92-22; Rupesh Shah Guj bt Devendra Joshi Mah 31-79, 66-15, 66-43, 61-15, 91-0.

Group E: Shakil Ahmed WB bt Sanjay Bisht UP 60-52, 59-12, 59-46, 71-2; Siddarth Rao TN bt Sanjay Bisht UP 68-8, 85-9, 85-23, 23-53, 91-1.

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Group G: K Ranjan TN bt Himanshu Bisht UP 54-34, 92-6, 51-47, 96-17; Omar Balsara Mah bt S Sen Ori 65-22, 66-35, 54-62, 72-24, 62-37.

Group H: Antim Singhi Rlys bt Pankaj Sood HP 79-21, 75-46, 77-13, 21-69, 91-0; Siddarth Anand Del bt NK Sharma Raj 68-1, 55-49, 63-23, 67-35.

Junior Billiards first round: Vishal Madan Mah bt JI Wills Ker 516-319; Raghav Baweja Har w/o Nitin Agarwal MP. Second round: Pankaj Advani Kar bt Jai Ganesh TN 661-582. Pre-quarterfinals: M Senthil TN bt Sandip Batla Del 466-436; Jaswinder Singh Raj bt Shivananda Sinha Bih 456-359; Pankaj AdvaniKar bt Raghav Baweja Har 1121-300; Vishal Madan Mah bt Amit Sharma Del 501-473.