Pooja survives scare

BANGALORE, JANUARY 31: Black, the most valuable colour in snooker. None better to vouch for the importance of potting the black to win a m...

BANGALORE, JANUARY 31: Black, the most valuable colour in snooker. None better to vouch for the importance of potting the black to win a match than Rajasthan’s Pooja Golundia, who fought back deficits in both the frames in her Group E encounter against debutante Vidya Pillai of Tamil Nadu on the opening day of the 8th National Women’s Snooker Championships at KSBA Hall on Monday.

Down by 15 points in the second frame, having won the first one on black as reflected in the 38-31 score-line, Pooja staged a splendid rally on the colours to curb her rival’s hopes of stretching the issue into the third frame. There was a lapse in her concentration during that rally, when she allowed Vidya to pocket the blue, but that was only momentary. And when Vidya squandered an edge of the cushion black pot to the left top pocket, Pooja accepted the opportunity gleefully to seal the match in her favour.

Lying on the other side of the spectrum as Pooja celebrated her 38-31, 54-52 win was the elegant Vidya, a freelancephotographer by profession, for whom the memories of missing the black in both the frames will linger long. Perhaps, it was the hangover of this disappointment that influenced her defeat to Karnataka’s Indira Hegde later in the day. Vidya, a pale shadow of her enthusiastic self in the morning, went down 18-52, 28-46.

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Meanwhile, fancied players worked their way in the preliminary league notching up easy victories with consummate ease. Defending champion Farah Khan set the ball rolling with a 65-48, 45-29 win against compatriot Asha Wasvani and last year’s runner-up Judith Walia, Varsha Mazumdar and Anuj Thakur followed suit.

RESULTS
Group A: Farah Khan (Kar) bt Asha Wasvani (Kar) 65-48, 45-29; Kamala Chandrababu (TN) bt MVJ Fernandes (Kar) 48-27, 49-38; MVJ Fernandes (Kar) bt Asha Wasvani 49-21, 36-37, 52-21.
Group B: Judith Walia (Kar) bt Soumini Srinivas (TN) 63-20, 77-27; Jagruti Patel (Mah) bt Renu Bharkatiya (MP) 35-49, 66-19, 77-28. Renu Bharkatiya (MP0 bt Soumini Srinivas(TN) 48-10, 54-24; Judith Walia (Kar) bt Jagruti Patel (MP) 60-21, 49-34.
Group C: Varsha Mazumdar (Mah) bt Sonal Mamoowala (Mah) 57-3, 79-38; Ashwini Puranik (MP) bt Sadhana Patel (Kar) 66-23, 50-40; Sonal Mamoowala (Mah) bt Sadhana Patel (Kar) 47-40, 21-75, 42-38.
Group D: Ritu Srivastava (MP) bt Nilofer (TN) 55-25, 51-23; Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt Seema Desai (WB) 56-24, 24-39, 49-27.
Group E: Pooja Galundia (Raj) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 38-31, 54-52; Sangita Hemchand (MP) bt Indira Hegde (Kar) 62-27, 50-20; Indira Hegde (Kar) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 52-18, 46-28.
Group F: Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt Chitra Magimairaj (Kar) 62-25, 51-45; Chitra Magimairaj (Kar) bt Aditi Puranik (MP) 45-21, 19-52, 54-40.
Group G: Anuja Thakur bt B Lavanya (TN) 66-2, 69-9; Usha Khandelwal (Mah) bt TV Sridevi (Kar) 27-42, 63-39, 69-23. TV Sridevi (Kar) bt B Lavanya (TN) 47-18, 59-10.
Group H: Umadevi (Kar) bt Meenal Bairagi (Mah) 14-49, 51-35, 55-44; Umadevi (Kar) bt BhanumatiK Mendon (Kar) 60-38, 49-29; Cynthia Mukherjee (WB) bt R Droupadi (Kar) 61-63, 54-14, 54-8.