Kothari eners knockout; Jayaram wins

Bangalore, June 16:The Garden City seems to bring him luck. Seven years ago it was here that the bespectacled cueist from West Bengal, Mano...

Bangalore, June 16:The Garden City seems to bring him luck. Seven years ago it was here that the bespectacled cueist from West Bengal, Manoj Kothari won the World Amateur Championship. The ease with which he advanced to the knockout pre-quarterfinals in the Titan PSI 2000 63rd Senior National Billiards and 21st Junior Billiards amp; Snooker championships at the KSBA Hall on Monday underlined the fact of the city bringing him fortune.

Kothari8217;s cueing abilities were at its best when he fought a see-saw battle with the giant-killer8217; of the circuit, Simhachalam of the Railways, to win the match 829-486. The win- Manoj8217;s second in the four-man Group A ensured that his place in the last 16 was assured. Manoj had routed Kerala8217;s Atit Shah in the morning by a lopsided 956-332 margin.

Simhachalam brought back memories of the 1995 Guntur Nationals where he had displayed amazing prowess to scalp many a big name in the game, when he shot to a 138-60 lead with a 79 on his 11th visit to the table. The 120 Manoj registered on his 13th visit to go ahead 187-158 only prompted Simhachalam to come up with a 78 on the 15th visit to regain the lead 261-206.

With his ego piqued, Kothari came up with a streak of big breaks- 118 16th visit, 98 22, 79 25th and a fitting final 83 32 to take control of the match. Later in the day, Karnataka8217;s Bhaskar came up with a classy performance to maul Bihar8217;s Anand Rao 732-409 in Group F. Bhaskar8217;s best was to come on the 31st, 33rd and the 34th visits to the table when he earned his points with breaks of 70, 138 and 92 respectively.

Two other cueists from the host state 8212; both former National champions 8212; met with mixed luck. M G Jayaram, the artist with the cue, steamrolled a hapless Ashok Kumar of Tamil Nadu 743-475 in Group C, while Tornado Fats Arvind Savur was hindered by his age in his 553-807 loss to Delhi8217;s Mukesh Rehani in Group G. The billiards draw was further depleted on Monday morning when the organisers found that UP8217;s Dr Rajan Gupta Group E and Kerala8217;s Md. Arshad had not arrived. Thus only Group A and D features four players, while the rest all are three-man groups.

Anuj in leauge: Even as Arvind Savur was losing, his ward Anuj Jhunjhunwala made mincemeat of his rivals in junior billiards on his way to the semifinal league. Anuj began the morning with a 924-376 humbling of AP8217;s Hoshang Noria and went on to defeat the stylish Delhi cuiest Siddarth Anand by a 790-596 in the quarterfinals.

Others who made it to the league were top seed Guarv Anand of Railways, who defeated West Bengal8217;s Dipankar Boral 659-458, Maharashtra8217;s Chintan Zaveri, who beat Karnataka8217;s Dharmesh Shah and Devang Shah of Maharashtra, a 435-407 winner over Delhi8217;s Rajat Taneja.

BILLIARDS RESULTS

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SENIORS: Group A: Manoj Kothari WB bt Atit B Shah Ker 956-332; Manoj Kothari bt Simhachalam Rlys 829-426. Group B: A Haque Ori bt Arun Agarwal Mah 742-570. Group C: M G Jayaram Kar bt A B Ashok Kumar TN 743-475. Group D: Satish Amarnath Mah bt Murzun Jokhi Guj 582-410. Group E: Prem Prakash TN bt Shakeel Ahmed WB 615-418. Group F: B Bhaskar Kar bt Anand Rao Bih 732-409. Group G: Mukesh Rehani Del bt Arvind Savur Kar 807-553. Group H: Rupesh Shah Guj bt Md Asim WB 534-510