BANGALORE: The Thakur sisters - Meenal and Anuja - are out to prove their superiority over the rest of the players in the field yet again. In the women's billiards semifinals, Meenal overcame R. Umadevi 75-63, 76-30, 69-75, 75-38 while Anuja showed yet another Karnataka player, Chitra Magimairaj, the door with some precision play to win 76-73, 75-27, 59-76, 76-31 in the Jain Heights sponsored 15th women's National billiards championship at the Bowring Institute's Billiards Hall here on Sunday.

In the quarterfinals played earlier in the day, Umadevi, a former champion, beat Tamil Nadu's Vidya Pillai 52-30, 51-49 while Chitra outclassed Renu Barkatiya (MP) at 51-18, 50-6. Anuja and Meenal proved far too superior to T.V. Sridevi (Karnataka) and Soumini Srinivas (TN) and respectively.

Interestingly poised

The verdict in the junior snooker event is interestingly poised. After Sunday's results all four players in the semifinal league have a win-loss record and everything will hinge on Monday's final league matches.

Shravan Mohta (Maharashtra) came through 4-3 against Shivam Arora (Bihar) and Rishab Pandya (Maharashtra) suffered a 3-4 upset against J&K's Younis Kuchey, who has indeed turned out to be the snooker sensation of this Nationals.

The day also produced two century breaks. While Yasin Merchant had a 101 break against Divya Sharma earlier in the morning, young Sourav Kothari (PSPB) came up with a 119 break late in the evening against K. Venkatesham (Railways), in the very first frame.

The 64 players, divided into 16 groups play on a league basis and the top two from each group enter the knock-out stage.

The results:

Women's billiards (semifinals): Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt R. Uma Devi (Kar) 75-63, 76-30, 69-75, 75-38; Anuja Thakur (Mah) bt Chitra. M (Kar) 76-73, 75-27, 59-76, 76-31. Quarterfinals: Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Soumini Srinivas (TN) 50-17, 50-25; R. Uma Devi (Kar) bt Vidya Pillai (TN) 52-30, 51-49; Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt T.V. Sridevi (Kar) 54-13, 61-38; Chitra. M (Kar) bt Renu Barkatiya (MP) 51-18, 50-6.

Men: snooker (main league): B.V. Srinivas Murthy (Kar) bt K. Venkatesham (Rlys) 67-44, 50-12, 52-32; Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Peter R. Lalrinitluanga (Miz) 44-09, 56-11, 60-26; Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Shyamal Sharma (Bih) 50-26, 81-0, 59-44; Lucky Vatnani (AP) bt S.A. Saleem (TN) 75-06, 68-25, 58-73, 75-23; Siddharth Anand (Del) bt M. Arun (Raj) 53-38, 55-76, 81-34, 61-29; Prem Prakash (TN) bt Kanishk Jhanjariya (MP) 62-24, 65-78, 63-18, 60-23; Neeraj Kumar (Bih) bt Sandeep Singh (MP) 56-35, 55-30, 94-22; Kamal Rohmetra (J&K) bt Shravan Mohta (Mah) 59-44, 66-55, 56-21; Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt Abhishek Raj (UP) 91-14, 49-41, 72-30; D. Raj Kumar (Kar) bt B. Bhaskar (Kar) 27-61, 76-36, 23-74, 79-50, 61-42; Aditya Mehta (Mah) bt S. Mumtaz Ali (Jhar) 73-37, 94-24, 58-34; Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt M.S. Arun (Kar) 59-20, 59-27, 29-79, 68-44; Duncan Mackenzie (Kar) bt Sohail Jairaj (Kar) 66-09, 59-23, 60-32; Girish (TN) bt Aditya Goenka (WB) 60-19, 58-51, 22-64, 79-53; Antim Singhi (TN) w/o Sumeet Talwar (Chan); Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt Neeraj Khemka (WB) 80-0, 69-43, 30-77, 64-18; Brijesh Damani (WB) bt Sandeep Gulati (Del) 50-34, 53-27, 62-16; Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Divya Sharma (Har) 67-41, 81-9, 102-8; Ashish Dhanda (Pun) bt J. Varun Kumar (TN) 56-24, 66-26, 14-66; Manan Chandra (PSPB) w/o Umar Farooq (J&K); Shahbaaz Adil Khan (WB) bt Md. Faisal Khan (Rlys) 66-23, 69-23, 41-72, 15-63, 58-8; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Himanshu Arora (Raj) 88-16, 82-22, 81-24; Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt K. Venkatesham (Rlys) 119-0, 50-51, 57-24, 68-37; B.V. Srinivasa Murthy (Kar) bt Peter R. Lalrinitluanga (Miz) 74-1, 63-37, 43-58, 72-30.

Junior snooker (semifinal league): Shravan Mohta (Mah) bt Shivam Arora (Bih) 35-65, 64-2, 30-59, 59-34, 20-56, 61-56, 51-36; Younis Kuchey (JK) bt Rishab Pandya (Mah) 29-73, 58-19, 60-53, 63-51, 31-51, 5-70, 64-43.

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