Shandilya upstages Merchant

Merchant took the second frame, to make it one-all, but he was missing his rhythm throughout the match. Shandilya made small breaks but it was enough to pile up the pressure on the former Asian champion.

A brilliant unfinished break of 131 in the third frame was the feature of his facile 4-1 win over National runner-up Rafat Habib. Sethi lost the opening frame 0-84 as Habib got off to a fine start with breaks of 32 and 48. But thereafter, it was Sethi all the way.

Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates No 1 Mohammed Sultan, one of the two foreign entries for the tournament this year, withdrew at the last moment.

The other foreigner, Roxton Chapman of England, was given a torrid time by Dharmendra Lilly of Punjab, before he won 4-3.

Lilly played his heart out and gave the much respected Briton a run for his money. Chapman took the first two frames at 68-42 and 85-8. Lilly took the thrid frame at 59-19 but the plucky Briton, with breaks of 66 and 50, pocketed the fourth frame at 116-1 when Lilly missed an easy pot on the yellow.

However, Lilly did not cave in easily and fought tooth and nail to win the next two frames at 74-33 and 77-9 with a break of 76 in the sixth frame to draw level at 3-all.

Chapman then showed his mettle with a break of 60 in the crucial seventh frame to wrap up the match at 90-2.

RESULTS (breaks in brackets)

Group A: Duncan McKenzie bt Amit Khansaheb (4-0) 63-36, 67-41 (Duncan 43), 78-33 (Duncan 51), 79-3 (Duncan 46); Sonic Multani bt Subhash Agrawal (4-0) 100-13 (Multani 53, 42), 86-11 (Multani 49), 86-15, 91-12 (Multani 84)

Group B: Sarang Shroff bt Varun Taneja (4-1) 55-40, 92-41 (Shroff 36), 61-18, 7-104 (Varun 92), 74-21; Sarang Shroff bt R Thukral (4-2) 61-27, 82-23 (Shroff 32, 50), 44-58, 87-21, 34-71 (Thukral 49), 59-31; Geet Sethi bt Rafat Habib (4-1) 0-84 (Habib 32,48), 71-11, 69-8 (Sethi 51), 131-0 (Sethi 131), 80-0 (Sethi 47, 53)

Group C: Roxton Chapman bt Dharmendra Lilly (4-3) 58-42, 85-8, 19-59, 116-1 (Roxton 66, 50), 33-74, 9-77, (Lilly 76), 90-2 (Roxton 60); Yasin Merchant bt Nalin Patel (4-0) 100-33 (Yasin 70), 85-0 (Yasin 47, 32), 84-14 (Yasin 75), 90-35 (Yasin 46); Ashok Shandilya bt Yasin Merchant (4-2) Yasin conceded first frame, 46-63, 103-27 (Ashok 60, 39), 14-76 (Yasin 44), 66-46, 57-32

Group D: Devendra Joshi bt Manav Panchal (4-1) 62-25, 43-63, 100-9 (Joshi 49), 77-46 (Joshi 46 unf), 73-4; Devendra Joshi bt Irfan Mirza (4-3) 6-67, 14-60 (Mirza 43), 64-7, 49-62, 69-36, 78-25, 72-17; Alok Kumar bt S Rao (4-0): 58-27, 61-50, 61-1, 54-13

Lad, Mandke triumph

Vijendra Lad and Radhika Mandke won the top honours in the under-18 categories for boys and girls respectively in the Wockhardt Limited-sponsored 4th Bombay Gymkhana Junior Open Tennis Tournament.

Lad dominated Ajay Ramaswamy in his straight sets 6-3, 6-4 win, while Mandke had to overcome a fighting Sonia Shelar in the first set before registering a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

RESULTS (all finals)

BOYS: U-12: Vikrant Sane bt Karan Rastogi 6-2, 6-3; U-14: Benjamin Xavier bt Rohan Gajjar 6-1, 6-1; U-16: Dipesh Rao bt Keder Tembe 6-2, 5-7, 6-2; U-18: Vijendra Lad bt Ajay Ramaswamy 6-3, 6-4

GIRLS: U-12: Isha Lakhani bt Ronak Shah 6-3, 6-1; U-16: Sonia Shelar bt Sonal Phadke 2-6, 6-0, 6-3; U-18: Radhika Mandke bt Sonia Shelar 7-5, 6-1

Don Bosco win

Don Bosco Oratory `A’ recorded a convincing 2-0 victory over ONGC to advance into the second round of the Mumbai District Football Assocation (MDFA) Maitra Cup Football tournament at the St Xavier’s ground, Parel today.After a barren first session, Rupinder Chand opened the account for Don Bosco in the 31st minute. Lancer Mendonca increased the tally in the 59th minute to seal ONGC’s fate.

There will be no matches on Wednesday.

Triple crown for Mallika

Thirteen-year-old Mallika Parekh hogged the limelight winning the sub-junior, girls and women’s singles titles respectively in the Mumbai Suburban District Table Tennis Association’s state ranking table tennis tournament that concluded at the Ghatkopar Sports Club on Sunday.

Mallika, who had won a triple crown in a ranking tournament held at Kolhapur, continued he brilliant display winning all the finals in straight games.

George Joseph, who had shocked the top seed, climaxed his performance by accounting for Gandeep Bhiwandkar to claim the men’s singles crown.

RESULTS (all finals)

Men’s singles: George Joseph bt Gandeep Hiwandkar 21-10, 21-14, 21-14; Boy’s singles: Aditya Mahagaonkar bt Sagar Yadav 21-15, 21-19 17-21, 21-15;

Sub-junior boy’s singles: Aditya Mahagaonkar bt Eric Fernandes 21-18, 21-14, 21-16; Cadet boys singles: Aditya Mhagaonkar bt Sujan Marvekar 21-11, 21-15;Men’s team event: Khar Gymkhana bt BSES 3-1; Women’s singles: Mallika Parekh bt Shruti Kanade 22-20, 21-19, 21-16; Junior girls singles: Mallika Parekh bt Shalmali Mhatre 21-17, 21-19, 21-16; Sub-junior girls singles: Mallika Parekh bt Prachiti Joshi 21-14, 21-16, 21-8; Cadet girls singles: Sweta Joshi bt Manasi Bhagwat; Women’s team event: RCF bt Central Railway by 3-1