Prakash clips Advani8217;s wings

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 8: For the second successive day in the 66th edition of the Senior National billiards championship, Group E produced t...

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 8: For the second successive day in the 66th edition of the Senior National billiards championship, Group E produced the most competitive and conspicuous results. At the KSBA Hall on Tuesday, action in the seven other groups of the tournament now named after Lachmandas V Kalro, was, to a large extent, lop-sided with the likes of Ashok Shandilya, Balachandra Bhaskar, Devendra Joshi and Alok Kumar decimating their rivals. But group E8217;, with India international Prem Prakash playing the lead role, made ample amends with its interesting encounters.

The Tamil Nadu 33-year-old started the day rather tentatively, looking woefully out of touch at times, before pulling himself out of a rut to quell Devang Shah8217;s hopes by a tight 462-447 margin. But by the time he took to the table against the talented Pankaj Advani, he had regained his rhythm. Prakash defeated Advani 727-596 to notch his second win in the group.

A fortuitous escape it was for Prakash against Devang Shah. Facing a deficit forthe major duration of the encounter, Prakash came into his own with less than ten minutes left in the clock. Stringing together breaks of 29, 33 and 20 starting from the 41st visit the breaks, though small quantitatively, the Coimbatore cueist kept his last-year8217;s quarter-finalist reputation intact.

Devang Shah, on the other hand, must have been kicking himself for not capitalising on the opportunities Prakash provided. A 82 on his 13th visit giving the needed impetus, one expected Shah to prosper. The former junior national champion did manage breaks of 55 23rd and 40 24th, but against the tactical end-game techniques of Prakash, Shah8217;s efforts ran out of time.

End-game techniques it was that saw Prakash pull off his second win too. Disregarding the hype surrounding his rival8217;s sensational win against veteran Subash Agarwal, Prakash started off well with a 43 on his fourth visit followed by a 33 on his next visit. But the prodigy that Advani is, the 14-year-old kept breathing down Prakash8217;s neckwith consistent compilations.

When Prakash came up with a 123 on his 18th visit, an effort that brought out the Lakshmi Mills sponsored cueist8217;s fluency and flawless top-table billiards, Advani replied with a 72. A 66 20 and 69 24 by Prakash was matched by Advani8217;s 62 each on his 21st and 23rd visits.

It was at this stage, with the match hanging in balance, that Prakash took charge of the proceedings. He used his international experience to good effect with breaks of 69 24 and 54 34. It was at this very time that Advani8217;s form took a dip rather strangely. A streak of poor scores starting with the 24th visit, combined with Prakash8217;s increasing confidence, took the match out of Advani8217;s reach.

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Bhaskar, Joshi advance: Meanwhile, Alok Kumar and Yasin Merchant, both from group A, Devendra Joshi from group B and B Bhaskar from group D booked their berth in the knockout stage notching their third consecutive wins in their five-man groups.

Alok and Yasin will face-off on the morrow to decidethe group A winner, while Bhaskar will take on, rather warily, Rupesh Shah who came up with a massive 383 against Habibullah.

Results

Group A: Alok Kumar Pun bt Shahid Rizvi UP 858-280, Yasin Merchant Mah bt KK Khanna JK 866-291, Yasin Merchant Mah bt Rizvi 1205-241, Alok Kumar Pun w/o Anil Sharma Har.

Group B: IH Manudev Kar bt Subash Sood Del 608-442, Devendra Joshi Mah bt Vishal Abrol JK 1035-193, Subash Sood Del bt S Mumtaz Ali Bih 641-380.

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Group C: Md Asim WB bt Lalit Har 747-336, Dharmendar Lilly Pun w/o N Subba Rao AP.

Group D: Rupesh Shah Guj bt SM Habibullah TN 942-216, B Bhaskar Kar bt Ram Gopal Sood HP 1151-141.

Group E: Subash Agarwal Rlys w/o Aditya Dube MP, Prem Prakash bt Devang Shah Mah 462-447, Prem Prakash TN bt Pankaj Advani Kar 727-596.

Group F: Druv Sitwala Mah bt AR Azeem Ker 590-406, Ashok Shandilya Rlys bt Shyam Jagtinai Rlys 765-478.

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Group G: Varun Taneja Rlysw/o Achint Verma Pun, Manoj Kothari WB bt Sanjay Bisht UP 1076-281, Aminul Haque Ori w/o Achint Verma Pun.

Group H: ME Jokhi Guj bt JS Dawar Mah 493-474, JS Dawar bt S Sen Ori 600-407, Amit Sharma Del bt ME Jokhi 698-440, S Sen w/o Rajnish Bansal MP, Shardanand Sinha Bih bt S Sen Ori 528-457, JS Dawar w/o Rajnish Bansal MP.