Habib ravages Siddharth Rao

Bangalore, Feb 16: Raising his game to a higher notch when it mattered Railways' Rafat Habib scored a morale-boosting 4-1 win over an erro...

Bangalore, Feb 16: Raising his game to a higher notch when it mattered Railways8217; Rafat Habib scored a morale-boosting 4-1 win over an error-prone Tamil Nadu No 2 Siddarth Rao in a Group E encounter in the Lachmandas V Kalro 66th Senior National snooker championship at the KSBA Hall on Wednesday.

The match, billed as one of the main draws of the preliminary stage, never rose to any great heights despite being one between two of the most gifted snooker players in the country. Where Rafat played well within himself, with some fancy shots at crucial junctures, Siddarth erred when it came to sinking some sitters8217;. A couple of unfortunate in-off fouls too went against Siddarth8217;s campaign. The win, Rafat8217;s third in the five-man group, almost assured him of the top place.

There were many occasions when Siddarth flattered only to deceive moments later, truncating an emerging break rather prematurely with either an in-off or squandering a relatively easy pot.

An unfortunate brown in-off it was which along with nullifying Siddarth8217;s rather crafty shot in trying to pot the colour on a rebound off the cushion, opened up the table for Rafat to clear it. Which the Railways man did without trouble to pocket the first frame.

In the second frame, Siddarth fouled while trying to release a red from the bunch which he himself conceded rather gamely. With another foul, while playing the green, Siddarth handed over the initiative to his rival. Rafat used the chance to build leads 34-17, 52-17, 64-17, interspersing each of his visit with a safety, before Siddarth threw in the towel with one red left.

Results

Senior snooker Prelim league: Group A: Manan Nagpal Har bt N Singhania Megh 77-12, 68-12, 68-12, 48-13. Group B: Mohammed Asim WB bt Raj Jaswal HP 71-20, 68-11, 59-50, 66-12. Group C: Rupesh Shah Guj bt Amish Parekh Bih 35-67, 61-51, 68-16, 78-18, 26-69, 67-2; Devendra Joshi Mah bt S Shankar AP 82-16, 52-44, 47-61, 16-60, 112-13, 86-12. Group D: Yasin Merchant Mah bt Someswara Rao AP 79-32, 50-62, 78-17, 57-22, 71-4. Group E: Rafat Habib Rlys bt Siddarth Rao TN 84-42, 64-17, 92-1, 29-57, 67-31. Group F: Dharmender Lilly Pun bt D Rajkumar Kar 60-25, 66-29, 70-29, 62-35; S Mumtaz Ali Bih bt Aminul Haque Ori 54-24, 42-50, 55-34, 21-52, 57-37, 45-67, 66-44. Group G: Alok Kumar Pun bt Himanshu Bisht UP 60-15, 38-46, 77-42, 76-15, 65-20; K Ranjan TN bt S Sen Ori 58-53, 71-26, 71-11, 68-54.

Junior billiards Quarterfinals: Pankaj Advani Kar bt Vishal Madan Mah 903-456. Junior snooker I round: Akram Khan WB bt Tarun Jolly HP 59-45, 52-9, 70-35; Nitesh V AP bt JK Das Ori 62-24, 24-54, 64-8, 2-50, 59-36; Harit Parikh Guj bt Amish Parekh Bih 75-26, 9-64, 34-46, 57-20, 69-46.