Mixed luck for top cueists

After losing a match in the morning, Shandilya kept his qualifying hopes alive beating R Habib 4-2, later in the day.

The scores reading 2-1 in favour of Shandilya, his lesser known opponent stirred some interest. A start to finish break of 129 by Habib was surely the pick of the day. With the likes of Geet Sethi, Yasin Merchant and Devendra Joshi playing on the other side of the billiards room, most eyes were glued there. But as the marker started calling out scores of 788230;798230;80, heads started turning. So much so, that when Habib finished the fourth frame rout, audiences on the other side of the room joined in an applause, oblivious of their immediate tables.

Never to miss his share of limelight, it was Shandilya8217;sturn to light the fireworks. While Habib looked all set to upset Shandilya the latter struck back with a century break and go up 3-2.

But in quite an anticlimax, the sixth frame was a low key affair and also turned out to be the decider. While both players missed some easy pots, Shandilya sailed through the frame with score of 65-34.

In the morning Shandilya went down fighting to former National champion, Siddharth Rao, who won by four frames to three 4-3. With a break of 80 in the first frame, Rao took an early 2-0 lead. A great fightback looked on cards as Shandilya took the next three frames 54-30, 54-15, 61-22 to go one-up. But Rao, also a tough customer, struck back taking the penultimate frame 55-9. The seventh frame was a close encounter with Rao finally emerging the winner.

Joshi scalped Subhash Agarwal 4-0 in the morning session but failed to maintain a clean slate as he went down 4-2 to M Chandra.

Amit Saboo, pulled off a major coup in the last session as he shocked England8217;s RoxtonChapman with a 4-0 drubbing. Saboo won 79-25, 63-44, 62-55, 78-5.

Among some other matches, Yasin Merchant made little work of Geet Sethi with a 4-2 win. Earlier, Sethi scored a fluent 4-1 win over Varun Taneja to keep his hopes alive for a quarterfinal berth.

Alok Kumar failed to turn up for his encounter with Kamal Tulshan. No immediate cause for his absence was known.

RESULTS League, Day Two

Group A: Devendra Joshi bt Subhash Agarwal 4-0 79-36, 78-30, 81-23, 66-26, Mohd Jokar bt Rupesh Shah 4-1 18-69, 109-4, 65-36, 67-29, 68-8; M Chandra bt Devendra Joshi 4-2 50-64, 32-65, 48-2, 59-27, 62-41, 63-57; Rupesh Shah bt Subhash Agarwal 4-1 81-30, 56-66, 78-54, 66-13, 65-27.

Group B: Siddharth Rao bt Ashok Shandilya 4-3 81-37, 61-23, 30-54, 15-54, 22-61, 55-9, 65-51; M Shahab bt Nalin Patel 4-2 63-51, 8-73, 44-48, 79-51, 70-0, 63-28; Asok Shandilya bt R Habib 4-2 34-78, 65-59, 68-26, 0-129, 112-18, 65-34; M Shahab bt Siddharth Rao 4-1 9-63, 60-11, 82-32, 55-14,66-61.

Group C: Kamal Tulshan bt A Saboo 4-2 55-49, 35-72, 60-9, 33-58, 60-39, 81-7; Roxton Chapman bt Siddharth Anand 4-3 87-16, 43-75, 28-65, 32-75, 60-49, 81-7, 65-35; Amit Saboo bt Roxton Chapman 4-0 79-25, 63-44, 62-55, 78-5.

Group D: Geet Sethi bt Varun Taneja 4-1 63-19, 71-21, 69-66, 42-57, 58-27; D Lily bt Amit Khansaheb 4-3 72-26, 62-69, 29-75, 55-29, 42-66, 55-51, 70-30; Yasin Merchant bt Geet Sethi 4-2 36-54, 23-55, 23-55, 84-38, 58-40; Amit Khansaheb bt Varun Taneja 4-3 66-24, 54-13, 38-61, 65-19, 18-80, 35-60, 69-50.