The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Peace Cup from December 3

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Sunday, Nov 18, 2007
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Peace Cup from December 3

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The 4th Indo-Pak Peace Cup snooker tournament will be held at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here from December 3 to 7.

The political turmoil in Pakistan notwithstanding, the cue sport federations from either side of the border have decided to go ahead with the tournament after taking necessary clearance from their respective governments.

The tournament, originally scheduled from December 1, has been advanced by two days to allow the cueists some rest after the ongoing IBSF World snooker championship at Korat in Thailand. The prize money for the Peace Cup has now been set at $2000 for the winner and $1500 for the runner-up.

India is the defending champion having won the tournament in 2005 in Pakistan.

The five-day tournament will have three-Tests each comprising singles, doubles and reverse singles over best-of-three frames.

Experienced squad

Pakistan team comprises the seasoned Saleh Mohammed, whom Pankaj Advani defeated on way to winning the 2003 World Snooker championship in China. The other team members are all experienced who have done well for Pakistan at the Asian level.

Indian team is yet to be finalised though top four on the ranking list have been confirmed. Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar, the brains behind the Peace Cup, will have Rupesh Shah and Manan Chandra for company. The fifth player though would either be Pankaj Advani or Geet Sethi. Busan Asian Games snooker doubles gold medallist, Rafath Habib, is the reserve player.

The teams: India: Yasin Merchant, Alok Kumar, Rupesh Shah and Manan Chandra. Pankaj Advani or Geet Sethi. Reserve: Rafath Habib.

Pakistan: Saleh Mohammad, Imran Shehjad, Khurram Hussein Agha, Navin Kumar Parwani and Shahram Changezi.

Coach: Mohammad Yusuf; Manger: Javed Karim.

Railways triumphs

Railways retained the inter-ministry chess title by scoring 15 points from the five-round competition at the Nirman Bhawan hall here.

In the final round, Railways drew 2-2 with Communications. Commerce and Industry finished runner-up with 13.5 points, half a point ahead of Defence.

The results (fifth round): Communications drew with Railways 2-2 (Rajeev Vasudev bt S.P. Mahto; Dinesh Kocchar lost to Nassir Wajih; Sanjay Khurana bt Sunil Prabhat; Satbir Singh lost to P. Chakrapani).

Commerce and Industry bt Union Public Service Commission 4-0 (U.P. Choudhary bt Ramesh Prasad; T.S. Sodhi bt B.T.S. Dang; N.K. Bhatia bt Naveen Kumar; N.C. Kalra bt Ram Singh).

Health and Family Welfare lost to Defence 0-4; Finance drew with Lok Sabha 2-2; Rajya Sabha drew with Information and Broadcasting 2-2; IB lost to Urban Development 1-3; Cabinet Secretariat bt Shipping and Road Transport 4-0.

Eastern in semifinals

Eastern Railway defeated Integral Coach Factory 2-0 to enter the semifinals of the 54th All India Railway tennis championship here on Saturday.

The results (quarterfinal): Eastern Railway bt ICF 2-0; Preliminary round: ICF bt CLW 2-0; SER bt DMW 2-0; NFR bt RDSO 2-0; SEC bt Railway Board 2-0; Southern Railway bt Northern Railway 2-1.

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