Eleven cueists, including Ashok Shandilya, progressed to the third round of qualification for the men's senior snooker championship, at the Hash10 World Sim-Nationals, here on Monday.
Ashok Shandilya, a two-time gold medallist at the Asian Games in billiards, faced little difficulty in getting past Tamil Nadu's Senthil Kumar 3-0 (85-37, 65-10, 77-19) in the best-of-five frames second round qualification match.
While Shandilya's win was expected, the performance of the day came from Indian Oil Corporation's Rishab Pandya.
Pandya's break of 107 in just his second visit to the table, set him up well, as the cueist made light of the loss of the third frame in his 3-1 (108-4, 75-15, 10-53, 74-13) defeat of Baldev Pujara.
It was not a very good day for the youngsters, however, as both Ashutosh Padhy (the winner of the sub-junior snooker title) and Himanshu Jain were knocked out from the qualifiers. Padhy went down to Delhi's Akshay Kumar 3-1 (21-66, 58-47, 54-4, 67-29) while Himanshu Jain fell at the hands of Tamil Nadu's Imran Ganj 3-0 (60-43, 67-16, 77-44).
Rovin D'Souza, who finished third at last year's junior snooker nationals, also moved on to round three of qualification with a straight forward 3-0 (67-32, 66-21, 72-6) win over Rahul Sagar.
Tamil Nadu's Zubin Leninwala, the under-21 national snooker champion from last year's nationals, had an easy outing, winning 3-0 (67-19, 64-3, 60-16) against Ken Simon in a first round qualifier.
Three more rounds of qualification will be played, over Tuesday and Wednesday, to decide upon the five cueists who will make it to the main draw.
Important results (qualification,best-of-five frames):
Second round: Kankan Shamsi (UP) bt Shrenik (Del) 60-42, 67-7, 82-62; Rishab Pandya (Mah) bt Baldev Pujara (TN) 108-4, 75-15, 10-53, 74-13; Nagaraj (Kar) bt Sagar (Mah) 51-37, 56-32, 42-20; Nizel Lazar (TN) bt M. Rajan (TN) 40-35, 95-24, 61-43; Akshay Kumar (Del) bt Ashutosh Padhy (Ori) 21-66, 58-47, 54-4, 67-29; Ajay Bhushan (Kar) bt Md. Mueen (TN) 60-28, 75-6, 53-20; Imran Ganj (TN) bt Himanshu Jain (AP) 60-43, 67-16, 77-44; Rovin D'Souza (Mah) bt Rahul Sagar (Mah) 67-32, 66-21, 72-6; Ashok Shandilya (Rly) bt Senthil Kumar (TN) 85-37, 65-10, 77-19; Raj Khandwala (Mah) w/o Anupam Jha (Bih); Vaibhav Sharma (UP) bt Rasheed (TN) 71-19, 59-41, 45-14.
First round: Vikarant Bawge (Mah) bt Krishnaraj Arcot (Mah) 51-37, 62-41, 38-63, 36-38, 55-53; Ibrahim Sheikh (Mah) bt Prakash (TN) 61-11, 54-15, 65-58; Jasim Tawin (Kar) bt Pulkit Thukra (Del) 39-45,65-06,02-84,72-02,65-35; Aakash Ashok (Mah) bt Ankit bajaj (Del) 66-21, 44-30, 42-66, 16-64, 76-27.
Rajesh Tulsian (WB) bt Syed Musthaq (Kar) 63-37, 49-73, 67-36, 55-47; Zubin Leninwala (TN) bt Ken Simon (MP) 67-19, 64-3, 60-16; Nadeem Azeez (Kar) bt Sikkandar (TN) 52-18, 27-41, 51-28, 44-34; Sameer Sait (Kar) bt Ashwin Kumar (Kar) 19-51, 63-39, 58-53, 21-66, 40-19; Nehul Jain (Kar) bt Chaitanya (Mah) 69-44, 59-55, 63-41.
