Yasin, Alok get early wake-up call

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 13: Former Asian champion Yasin Merchant survived an early jolt from Aditya Goenka to start his group D' campaign in ...

BANGALORE, FEBRUARY 13: Former Asian champion Yasin Merchant survived an early jolt from Aditya Goenka to start his group D8217; campaign in the Lachmandas V Kalro 66th Senior National Snooker Championship on a victorious note at KSBA Hall on Sunday. Fancied Alok Kumar too needed a similar wake up call from Orissa8217;s S Sen to find his bearings in Group G8217; as contenders Sarang Shroff and Siddarth Rao were efficient in cantering to 4-0 victories.

Merchant was a little too casual taking the table against Aditya Goenka. The potting and plotting were appropriate no doubt, but his fluency was conspicuous by its absence. Later, Merchant, over-cautious, instead of attempting to pot the blue, tried to snook and paid the price of handing over a relatively easy position to his opponent. Goenka accepted the opportunity gleefully to win the first frame.

But there ended Goenka8217;s joy. Merchant immediately bounced back with a 41 to restore parity. He, slowly but surely, stepped up the gas winning the next two frames, with a 53 in the third before unleashing a spell-binding 88 en route to wrapping up the match.

Senior snooker prelim league
Group A: Ashok Shandilya Rlys bt Kamal Chawla MP 101-13, 71-21, 60-22, 30-63, 43-55, 88-12; Kamal Chawla MP bt Manan Nagpal Har 56-15, 31-61, 33-46, 44-63, 85-39, 68-55, 58-42.
Group B: Sarang Shroff Mah bt Raj Jaswal HP 60-43, 61-34, 66-34, 100-12.
Group C: Shyam Jagtiani Rlys bt S Shankar AP 70-52, 66-46, 47-72, 76-46, 66-20; Rupesh Shah Guj bt S Shankar AP 56-22, 73-34, 68-21, 106-1.
Group D: Pankaj Advani Kar bt K Someswara Rao AP 52-43, 75-49, 61-55, 86-8; Yasin Merchant Mah bt Aditya Goenka Raj 45-54, 86-21, 70-9, 75-48, 98-9; Pankaj Advani Kar bt Aditya Goenka Raj 60-14, 62-53, 42-41, 57-46.
Group E: Siddarth Rao TN bt Lalit Har 76-42, 72-10, 63-43, 96-10; Rafat Habib Rlys bt Shakil Ahmed WB 78-33, 31-52, 76-50, 62-35, 58-27.
Group F: D Rajkumar Kar bt Subash Agarwal Rlys.
Group G: S Sen Ori bt Himanshu Bisht UP 54-35, 48-40, 47-62, 53-50, 54-38; Alok Kumar Pun bt S Sen Ori 40-81, 88-22, 72-33, 106-8, 70-61.
Group H: Antim Singhi Rlys bt B Bhaskar Kar 35-72, 81-44, 54-17, 61-49; Pankaj Sood HP bt NK Sharma Raj 73-28, 16-73, 58-10, 70-7, 60-67, 57-50.
Junior Billiards I round: Anurag Bisht UP bt Mayur Agarwal UP 368-324; Jaideep Manocha JK bt Rajath Malhotra HP 490-172; Ritesh Shah Mah bt JK Dass Ori 596-258; Pamin Shah w/o Ranjan Saigal Pun; AK Deo Ori bt Ravindra Singh Raj. II Round: Manan Chandra Del bt Anurag Bisht UP 912-330. PQF: Ritesh Shah Mah bt Pamin Shah Guj 636-295.