Merchant advances

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 14: Yasin Merchant (Maharashtra) proved too good for young Pankaj Advani (Karnataka) winning 4-1 in the 66th National ...

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 14: Yasin Merchant (Maharashtra) proved too good for young Pankaj Advani (Karnataka) winning 4-1 in the 66th National Snooker Championship here on Monday. Merchant tamed Advani 77-18, 65-11, 35-95, 62-07, 58-06 in Group D, which was reduced to four players with ME Jokhi (Guj) failing to turn up. The winner took the first two frames within no time. But Advani raised his game in the third and lapped up everything that came his way as he won it with a break of 48 (95-35). But, Merchant finished the next frame with another superb 48 break (62-07) to lead comfortably 3-1 and clinched the match, winning the decider.

Merchant, who heads the group with two wins, will take on Someswara Rao (AP) on Wednesday evening.

In a Group A match, BVS Murthy (Kar) outplayed Deepak Goel (Har) 4-0 (47-39, 66-34, 56-48 and 82-26).
Results: B Raj Jaiswal (MP) bt Sanjiv Gupta (J&K) 4-1 (62-72 63-38 57-47 65-48 49-23); Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Pankaj Advani (Kar) 4-1 (77-18 65-11 35-95 62-7 58-06); BVSMurthy (Kar) bt Deepak Goel (Har) 4-0 (47-39 66-34 56-48 82-26); Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt SK Jagtiani (Rly) 4-0 (73-49 63-24 61-47 82-12); Antim Singhi (Rly) bt NK Sharma (Raj) 4-1 (34-71 88-0 80-35 56-42 80-12); Pankaj Sood (HP) bt Kamal Rohmetra (J&K) 4-0 (61-40 62-56 51-33 46-41); Omer Balsara (Mah) bt Himanshu Bisht (UP) 4-0 (65-30 57-26 53-41 59-8); GS Sen (Ori) w/o Garish Gandhi (MP); E Lalith (Har) w/o Vijay Ruparel (Ker); Pankaj Advani (Kar) w/o ME Jokhi (Guj).

'India expects Riyadh to keep mutual interests in mind': MEA on Saudi-Pakistan defence pact

‘India expects Riyadh to keep mutual interests in mind’: MEA on Saudi-Pak defence pact

India32 min ago

India on Friday said that it expects Saudi Arabia to keep in mind "mutual interests and sensitivities" in the wake of Riyadh sealing a strategic defence pact with Pakistan. The agreement states that "any aggression against either of the two countries shall be considered as an aggression against both".

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