Heena survives scare

MUMBAI, April 20: Top-seed Heena Khandelwal of Maharshtra survived some hiccups to win her inaugural league match in the All India Ladies Sn...

MUMBAI, April 20: Top-seed Heena Khandelwal of Maharshtra survived some hiccups to win her inaugural league match in the All India Ladies Snooker Tournament at the Bombay Gymkhana today. Heena got past citymate Sonu Kriplani 60-442, 28-36, 62-21 in the nation8217;s biggest ever prize-money snooker tournament with the winner pocketing Rs 7,000.

A total of 19 participants, including four from Karnataka, two from Tamil Nadu, two from Madhya Pradesh and the rest from Maharashtra are participating in the four-day event.

Karnataka8217;s Judy Walia, seeded second, came from behind to register a fine three frame win over compatriot R Umadevi. After losing the first set 44-48, Walia stuck to her guns taking the next two frames 49-34, 43-34.

It was a fine performance by Heena, who8217;s participation was in doubt after the death of her brother-in-law last week who also happened to be snooker player, Usha Khandelwal8217;s husband.

quot;It was not easy coming here,quot; said a jaded Heena while talking to The Indian Expressbefore her match. When asked about her chances in the tournament, Heena looked anything but enthusiastic. quot;Because of the tragedy in the family, I8217;m feeling completely drained. And I don8217;t want to think what will happen tomorrow,quot; said Heena.

Among other notables, Ashwini Puranik MP won both her league matches today in straight sets. Anju Thakur of Maharashtra also prevailed in her league tie.

The players have been drawn into four groups with each one playing round-robin matches with every other player of the same group. The top two players from each group will then enter the quarter-finals which is the knockout phase.

RESULTS

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Judy Walia Kar bt R Umadevi Kar 44-48, 49-34, 43-34; Ashwini Puranik MP bt Reena Prakash 62-21, 50-17; Anuja Thakur Mah bt Meenal Bairagi Mah 53-29, 45-52, 50-39; Indira Hegde Kar lost to Ritu Shrivastava MP 55-33, 35-47, 7-46; Sonal maoowalla Mah lost to Sangeeta Hemchand Mah 26-47, 20-67; Reena Prakash Kar lost to Neeta Sanghvi Mah 35-44, 8-56;R Umadevi Kar bt Anjali Sengupta Mah 89-22, 43-24; Kamala Chandrababu TN lost to Meenal Bairagi 36-50, 29-47; Ashwini Puranik MP bt Namrata Mathur Mah 81-74, 25-15; Neena Khandelwal Mah bt Sonu Kriplani Mah 60-42, 28-36, 62-21; Anuja Thakur Mah bt Jagruti Patel Mah 43-63, 61-34, 74-16.