The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Chitra prevails over Nicha

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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Chitra prevails over Nicha

V.V. Subrahmanyam

Pankaj Advani scores a fluent win

— Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Hard-fought win: Chitra Magimairaj had to dig deep to get past Nicha Pathom Eakmongkhon of Thailand.

HYDERABAD: Chitra Magimairaj of India carved out a 54-5, 59-34, 47-51, 61-27, 58-62, 50-28 win over Nicha Pathom Eakmongkhon (Thailand) to enter the pre-quarterfinal of the ladies’ category of the ONGC-IBSF World snooker championship at HICC Hall here on Friday night.

The 36-year-old from India was off to a fine start, taking a 2-0 lead but only to let the Thai opponent, widely appreciated here for her impressive long potting and solid safety play, to stage a fightback. But Chitra, a former World billiards champion, recovered in time to overcome the late surge from the Thai girl to clinch the issue thanks to her consistency and better potting prowess under pressure.

Chitra was all praise for her opponent. “I wish I could have potted like her. She was so good in those long shots,” Chitra remarked. And, she also said that it was important for her to re-think her safety play to do better in the quarterfinal.

In another pre-quarterfinal in the ladies’ category, national champion Meenal Thakur got the better of her sister Anuja Chandra 74-67, 49-39, 27-56, 22-55, 55-45, 40-76, 59-18.

The organisers were forced to stop all the ladies’ matches which were still going on by the time men’s round of 64 matches began. And, the ladies’ matches were rescheduled late in the evening when the tables were free.

Easy for Geet Sethi

In the Masters’ category, last year’s runner-up Geet Sethi re-discovered his wonted form in disposing of teammate H. Kamaraj 66-16, 68-1, 64-6, 52-42.

The only time Geet was tested was in the fourth frame when his opponent’s potting was really good, while the eight-time world champion failed with a few simple chances.

In the men’s section, India’s strong title-contender Pankaj Advani was fluent in his victory over Bobby Cruickshanks (Scotland) 102-8, 74-27, 50-37, 59-56. The only spot of bother came in the final frame when he was trailing initially at 0-38 and also committed a foul but still went on to win.

Two-time Asian snooker champion Yasin Merchant meant business straightaway against Chris Maltby of New Zealand and registered a methodical 98-21, 66-45, 30-54, 68-26, 54-66, 16-51, 67-25 win with breaks of 39, 31 and 33 in the second, fourth and fifth frames.

Late in the evening, the organisers were forced to cancel the final session featuring Masters pre-quarterfinals because of the musical nite in the adjacent hall.

The results: knock-out: Men: Round of 64: Alok Kumar (Ind) bt Faisal Khan (Ind) 62-34, 67-32, 77-17, 61-33; Yasin Merchant (Ind) bt Chris Maltby (Nzl) 98-21, 66-45, 30-54, 68-26, 54-66, 16-51, 67-25; Igor Figueiredo (Brazil) bt Juha Erkinmikko (Fin) 23-75, 76-09, 68-13, 71-9, 65-30; Patrick Einsle (Ger) bt Mohd. Awad (Egypt) 66-18, 88-6, 71-1, 70-50; Alex Borg (Malta) bt Greg Casey (Ire) 42-38, 66-2, 64-31, 79-15; Kamal Chawla (Ind) bt Rupesh Shah (Ind) 79-2, 47-60, 79-12, 98-56, 72-15; Anthony Brabin (Cyprus) bt Sourav Kothari (Ind) 60-9, 59-66, 6-73, 31-61, 59-32, 68-5, 67-21.

Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Bobby Cruickshanks (Scot) 102-8, 74-27, 50-37, 59-56; Lin Tang Ho (Hkg) bt Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) 57-8, 90-11, 48-59, 76-33, 49-18; David Craggs (Eng) bt Muhammed Asif (Pak) 53-63, 39-82, 53-43, 26-82, 62-3, 55-46, 58-15; Yu Delu bt Ryan Somaratna (SL) 89-10, 70-2, 36-51, 77-13, 102-0; Lai Chee Wei (Malay) bt Maurice Le Duc (Ndr) 68-56, 76-1, 25-69, 15-60, 46-69, 58-0, 84-9; Tian Pengfei (Chn) bt Brijesh Damani (Ind) 78-9, 75-25, 77-34, 86-13; Supoj Saenla (Thai) bt Faaris Kahn (SA) 71-43, 41-86, 51-38, 54-19, 62-25, 72-0.

Ladies: Pre-quarterfinals: Meenal Thakur (Ind) bt Anuja Chandra (Ind) 74-67, 49-39, 27-56, 22-55, 55-45, 40-76, 59-18; Jaique Ip (Hkg) bt Kathy Howden (Aus) 51-19, 60-5, 65-40, 65-24; Chitra Mgimairajan (Ind) bt Nicha Pathom Eakmongkhon (Thai) 54-5, 59-34, 47-51, 61-27, 58-62, 50-28; Ng On Yee (Hkg) bt Yu Ching Ching (Hkg) 12-77, 41-45, 54-33, 58-50, 62-35, 55-18.

Masters: Round of 32: Chuchart Trairattanapradit (Thai) bt S.A. Saleem (Ind) 110-5, 44-76, 76-43, 80-17, 82-31; Geet Sethi (Ind) bt H. Kamaraj (Ind) 66-16, 68-1, 64-6, 52-42; Ali Jaafar (Fra) bt Henry Killian (Nzl) 73-45, 50-54, 67-45, 29-40, 68-38, 36-69, 52-41; Costas Konnaris (Cyprus) bt Jyri Virtanen (Fin) 91-50, 37-64, 42-84, 82-45, 62-47, 20-67, 81-9.

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