Baljeet hogs limelight on day one of snooker tourney
LUCKNOW: The UP Open Handicap Snooker Tournament – 3 , being organized by the Lucknow Cue Sports Association, got off to a flying start with a huge participation of as many as 60 plus players, at the Green Baize parlour here on Thursday.
Besides hosts Lucknow, experienced cueist from places like Moradabad, Sitapur, Allhabad, Lakhimpur, Varanasi, Gonda and Gorakpur made their presence felt on day one of the event.
The tournament which is to conclude on September 23 is being played in a knock out format with all the players being given handicaps using former UP No 1 Anuj Bhargava as a yard stick. The present top four are not allowed to play, giving even a better chance to other players.
Almost all the top players made it to the next round, except Shubham Melhotra. All bets were in favor of Shubham having an easy day at the office as he faced Baljeet Singh. He quickly raced ahead with winning the first two frames the punters were all smiles, but Baljeet had different ideas.
As Shubham relaxed and became complacent Baljeet’s confidence grew. Even after losing the third frame Shubham did not seem to care or change his game and continued playing as impulsively as before and eventually found himself in “black to win” situation.
RESULTS
Ankur Agarwal bt Shashav Srivastava 3-2; Saif bt Saurabh Yadav 3-1; Shivam bt Yash Mehra (Knpr) 3-1; Shreshth Agarwal bt Ayush Agarwal 3-1; Vipin Kumar w/o Shaan 3-0; Gaurav Nathani w/o Dhananjai Mishra 3-0; Baljeet Singh bt Shubham Melhotra 3-2; Ayush Srivastava bt Rishab Agarwal (Stpr) 3-1.
AVIJAI CHESS The 42nd Avijai Active Chess Tournament will be held on Sunday, at the Avijai Chess Academy here. The tournament will be played under Swiss system and FIDE Rules.
THRILLING WIN Team Thapa defeated Team Rahul by 2-1 to win the senior category title of the Ashok Priyadarshi Memorial Six-A-Side Hockey Tournament, at th e CB Gupta Ground here on Thursday. Shahrukh struck both the goals for the winners, whereas Akash scored the consolation goal for the rivals. Team Kirti outplayed Team Pooja 4-2 to win the girls title, whereas Team Gaurav outclassed Team Zahid 5-1 to win the junior boys title.
SAHARA IN FINAL Sahara Estates defeated Army Medical Corps by a solitary goal to make it to the final of the Captain Qaiser Mirza Memorial Football Tournament, at the Chowk Stadium here on Thursday.
It was a ding-dong battle from the very start and the two teams made attacks and counter attacks, but failed to break the ice in the first half. Akish struck the all important in the 75th minute of the game. Now, Sahara Estates meet Sunrise Club in the final on Friday at 3.00 p.m.
Yugant wins medal for UP After a medal-less first day at the 55th National Open Athletics Championship in Kolkata on Wednesday, Yugant Shekhar Singh won the first medal for Uttar Pradesh in Kolkata on Thursday. Yugant won a bronze medal in men’s long jump event with a jump of 7.58 metre.