The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Girish scores an upset win over Sourav

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Girish scores an upset win over Sourav

Sports Reporter

SNOOKER / R. Karthik makes a stunning comeback to beat Shravan

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

IN FOCUS: R. Girish booked a place in the last 16 with a surprise win over Group ‘C’ favourite Sourav Kothari on Wednesday.

Chennai: The Alliance Group-ASCA snooker tournament was jolted out of its pattern of comfortable big name victories as local talent R. Girish stunned Group ‘C’ favourite Sourav Kothari in straight frames on Wednesday.

With the win, Girish assured himself a last 16 berth, and handed Sourav the task of beating Kamal Chawla in straight frames on Thursday to progress further. Kamal posted his second victory of the tournament, thumping Sunil Mathews in three frames.

Sourav, who made a near-century break in his first game on Monday, began disastrously in the first frame, missing a number of straightforward pots. In the second, four of the five points he scored came via a foul Girish conceded.

Girish was a picture of concentration, not letting his opponent’s distress affect his serenity, as he made a number of small, but vital breaks — 16, 17, 16, 25, 18 and 16 — in the first two frames to inch his lead well beyond Sourav’s reach in both frames.

Early in the third frame, Sourav made a painstaking 33 break, taking in the table from as many angles as possible before lining up his shots.

A period of slow, defensive play from both combatants followed, which ended as Girish thumped a red, which Sourav’s attempted safety had left open, into the top right pocket. Trailing 31-43 before that pot, Girish took the frame 54-43.

Easy for Advani

In Group ‘A’, Pankaj Advani handed Nadeem Ahmed his third defeat in as many games winning 72-32, 71-34, 80-27. Playing serenely throughout, Advani didn’t quite hit the metronomic levels he reached against Varun Kumar on Monday, narrow misses denying him large breaks in the first two frames.

He conquered the small margins of error in the third frame, where, trailing 1-27, he made a 79 break. The applause from the crowd, breaking out whenever a ball was potted, gathered decibels as his score mounted, and reached a crescendo when he sent the green ball rolling gently into the top left pocket, after striking it from its initial position just ahead of the baulk cushion.

R. Karthik made a stirring comeback from two frames down to beat Shravan Mohta in Group ‘G’, making a 57 break in the final frame.

Karthik is almost through to the knockout round, with Shravan needing to upset Ashok Shandilya, who defeated Karthik in straight frames in the evening, to harbour any hope.

The results: Group ‘A’: Pankaj Advani bt Nadeem Ahmed 72-32, 71-34, 80-27; M.C. Manoj bt Varun Kumar 17-83, 63-7, 70-44, 73-26; Group ‘B’: Prem Prakash bt Antim Singhi 42-78, 82-41, 58-6, 25-72, 58-32; Prem Prakash bt Pushparaj 52-33, 68-8, 68-50.

Group ‘C’: R. Girish bt Sunil Mathews 72-43, 56-14, 78-0; R. Girish bt Sourav Kothari 51-14, 61-5, 54-43; Kamal Chawla bt Sunil Mathews 63-60, 96-0, 96-39.

Group ‘D’: M.S. Arun bt R. Loganathan 63-34, 17-64, 61-46, 60-36; Group ‘E’: Rupesh Shah bt Harpreet Singh 72-22, 67-33, 40-74, 92-40.

Group ‘G’: R. Karthik bt Shravan Mohta 0-80, 53-58, 64-37, 75-43, 60-47; Ashok Shandilya bt R. Karthik 72-28, 65-29, 74-34.