Rafat downs Siddarth; Lilly, Rupesh top pool

An unfortunate brown in-off it was which along with nullifying Siddarth8217;s rather crafty shot in trying to pot the colour on a rebound off the cushion, opened up the table for Rafat to clear it. Which the Railways man did without trouble to pocket the first frame.

In the second frame, Siddarth fouled while trying to release a red from the bunch which he himself conceded rather gamely. With another foul, while playing the green, Siddarth handed over the initiative to his rival. Rafat used the chance to build leads 34-17, 52-17, 64-17, interspersing each of his visit with a safety, before Siddarth threw in the towel with one red left.

The third frame too started rather disastrously for Siddarth with an in-off foul, yet again! Rafat, meanwhile growing in confidence as well as cueing competence, raced ahead 24-0, consolidated it to 31-1 before unleashing an immaculate 61, with six blacks, a pink and blue each, as Siddarth conceded on the last red.

It looked like Rafat was returning Siddarth the in-off favours, when with the scores precariously positioned at 29-48 in the fourth frame, he fouled on the brown. Siddarth cleared the brown and blue to reduce the margin 1-3.

However, that lapse by Rafat proved only momentary, for, in the fifth frame, the Railways man kept his rival on a tight leash increasing his early 27-1 lead on every visit. Siddarth managed a 20 to narrow the gap and even managed to take the yellow.

A couple of safeties later, it was Rafat who took control doubling the green into the left-centre pocket, following it up with an acute brown before forcing Siddarth to pack his cue with a fluke pink.

Meanwhile, Rupesh Shah in Group C and Dharmender Lilly in Group F completed their engagements, winning all of them, to top their respective groups, a feat emulated by Yasin Merchant in Group D.

Results

Senior snooker Prelim league: Group A: Manan Nagpal Har bt N Singhania Megh 77-12, 68-12, 68-12, 48-13. Group B: Mohammed Asim WB bt Raj Jaswal HP 71-20, 68-11, 59-50, 66-12. Group C: Rupesh Shah Guj bt Amish Parekh Bih 35-67, 61-51, 68-16, 78-18, 26-69, 67-2; Devendra Joshi Mah bt S Shankar AP 82-16, 52-44, 47-61, 16-60, 112-13, 86-12. Group D: Yasin Merchant Mah bt Someswara Rao AP 79-32, 50-62, 78-17, 57-22, 71-4. Group E: Rafat Habib Rlys bt Siddarth Rao TN 84-42, 64-17, 92-1, 29-57, 67-31. Group F: Dharmender Lilly Pun bt D Rajkumar Kar 60-25, 66-29, 70-29, 62-35; S Mumtaz Ali Bih bt Aminul Haque Ori 54-24, 42-50, 55-34, 21-52, 57-37, 45-67, 66-44. Group G: Alok Kumar Pun bt Himanshu Bisht UP 60-15, 38-46, 77-42, 76-15, 65-20; K Ranjan TN bt S Sen Ori 58-53, 71-26, 71-11, 68-54.

Junior billiards Quarterfinals: Pankaj Advani Kar bt Vishal Madan Mah 903-456. Junior snooker I round: Akram Khan WB bt Tarun Jolly HP 59-45, 52-9, 70-35; Nitesh V AP bt JK Das Ori 62-24, 24-54, 64-8, 2-50, 59-36; Harit Parikh Guj bt Amish Parekh Bih 75-26, 9-64, 34-46, 57-20, 69-46.

Tuesday8217;s results: Group B: Manan Chandra Del bt Mohammed Asim WB 48-73, 59-44, 68-60, 57-28, 53-43; Manan Chandra Del bt Sarang Shroff Mah 58-55, 72-35, 67-38, 64-55. Group C: Devendra Joshi Mah bt Amish Parikh Bih 72-33, 53-47, 79-28, 92-22; Rupesh Shah Guj bt Devendra Joshi Mah 31-79, 66-15, 66-43, 61-15, 91-0. Group E: Shakil Ahmed WB bt Sanjay Bisht UP 60-52, 59-12, 59-46, 71-2; Siddarth Rao TN bt Sanjay Bisht UP 68-8, 85-9, 85-23, 23-53, 91-1. Group G: K Ranjan TN bt Himanshu Bisht UP 54-34, 92-6, 51-47, 96-17; Omar Balsara Mah bt S Sen Ori 65-22, 66-35, 54-62, 72-24, 62-37. Group H: Antim Singhi Rlys bt Pankaj Sood HP 79-21, 75-46, 77-13, 21-69, 91-0; Siddarth Anand Del bt NK Sharma Raj 68-1, 55-49, 63-23, 67-35.

Junior Billiards first round: Vishal Madan Mah bt JI Wills Ker 516-319; Raghav Baweja Har w/o Nitin Agarwal MP. Second round: Pankaj Advani Kar bt Jai Ganesh TN 661-582. Pre-quarterfinals: M Senthil TN bt Sandip Batla Del 466-436; Jaswinder Singh Raj bt Shivananda Sinha Bih 456-359; Pankaj Advani Kar bt Raghav Baweja Har 1121-300; Vishal Madan Mah bt Amit Sharma Del 501-473.