Snooker: K'taka cueists Kushal, Ahmed advance to 2nd round
Karnataka cueists Kushal Chandrashekar and Shaikh Najeeb Ahmed made bright winning starts by posting easy wins in their respective first round encounters in the Rs 12.25 lakh prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2018, played here on Monday.
Chandrashekhar took time to get off the blocks and tamely lost the opening frame to Nayan Bhuva of Gujarat in a first round tie.
But, the Karnataka challenger quickly got into a groove and bounced back in style by winning the next three to clinch a 3-1 win, with the frame scores reading 16-57, 56-12, 54-48 and 5914, a media release issued here said.
On another table, Ahmed also had a hesitant start and conceded the opening frame to Punjab’s Shivam Rana before pulling through at 3-1. Ahmed recovered well and started striking the balls perfectly to close out the match, winning at 30-45, 6039, 63-45 and 42-25.
Meanwhile, Anas Chandiwala of Surat and Ashish C. Shah from Baroda recorded contrasting first round victories to progress to the next round. Chandiwala straight away hit the right notes and outplayed Naveen Paladugula of Secunderabad, romping to a fluent 3-0 win. With some clinical potting, Chandiwala went on to register a 60-18, 5818, 53-12 victory.
On the other hand, Shah produced a solid fight as he came from behind to turn the tables on Telangana’s P. Abhiraj, winning by a 3-2 margin.
Abhiraj got off to a great start by taking the first two frames, but he was unable to carry the momentum and completely lost his way. Shah managed to find his touch and began to pot more consistently, snatching victory in the remaining three frames to script a 18-74, 27-68, 53-43, 63-28 and 61-36 win. Results (first round):
M.D. Hussain (Rly) bt Varun Daga (Bombay Gym) 3-2 (38-54, 42-55, 93-26, 72-14, 58-17); Vimal Mariwala (Radio Club) bt Ejaz Merchant (CS) 3-2 (64-61, 43-41, 20-56, 5153, 66-43); Abhijeet Ranade (Pune) bt Ramizudding Khan 3-1 (66-24, 23-68, 64-32, 57-22); Ashish C. Shah (Baroda) bt P. Abhiraj (TLGN) 3-2 (18-74, 27-68, 53-43, 63-28, 6136); Siddharth Kemani (CCI) bt Chinmay Gawde (Radio Club) 3-1 (65-40, 30-66, 66-24, 61-47).