Manan rallies to win

Manan Chandra rallied from two frames down to notch up a morale-boosting win against the talented Iranian Hossein Vafaei Ayouri in a Group C match on the opening day of the Asian snooker championship at the Yeshwant Club here on Saturday.

The Indian fans had more reasons to cheer for as former world champion Pankaj Advani recorded a convincing 136 (89)-0, 90-2, 23-64, 86 (75)-1, 73-23 win over Lim Chun Kiat of Singapore in a Group B engagement, while Aditya Mehta overcame a poor start to beat Ali Hussain Ali of Iraq 8-88, 65-28, 76-29, 57-15, 58-30 in Group H.

Chandra, the last-minute replacement for the seasoned Yasin Merchant, faced a stiff challenge from Hossein before winning the contest 0-131 (126), 41-63, 81-38, 56-20, 76-41, 79-36.

Meanwhile, two Jordanian players, Ahamad Abdullah and Suleman Omar, have withdrawn from the championship.

Other results:

Group A: Muhammad Sajjad (Pak) bt Ahmed Hassan Hadi (Irq) 62-28, 91 (90)-0, 69-80, 72-12, 73-13;

Group D: Jin Long (Chn) bt Fung Kwok Wai (HK) 69-16, 86-62, 63-73, 95-27, 7-93 (89), 68-58;

Group E: Noppadol Sangnil (Tha) bt Lau Ka Lam (HK) 79-22, 66-18, 45-73, 70-18, 47-72, 38-53, 68-51;

Group F: Passakorn Suwannawat (Tha) bt Mubarak Khal Owais (Kuw) 73-27, 85 (71)-27, 63-10, 50-14;

Group G: Tian Pengfei (Chn) bt Danny Lam Tuck Weng (Sin) 60-8, 69-10, 132 (124)-0, 121 (84)-14; Omar Alkojah (Syr) bt Ahmed Ghuloom (Bah) 82-30, 62-13, 69-52, 65-30;

Group H: Mohd. Shehab (UAE) bt Satoshi Nakamura (Jpn) 66-27, 95-14, 94-7, 74-0.