Merchant advances

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 Jamp;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 Jamp;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.