Mohammed Arif was in superlative form as he led the men’s field after the first round of the Champions League in the Indian online carrom challenge.
In the eight-board contest, Arif, who had come through the preliminary and super league to join the elite Champions League, had one ultimate slam and was very vibrant, completing a board in a maximum of four chances.
Arif had a cumulative score of six, 15 points better than second-placed Abhishek Chavan.
Abhishek and Irshad Ansari also had an ultimate slam of start to finish without a miss.
Sandeep Deorukhkar, Irshad, Abdul Rahman, Riyaz Akbar Ali, Mohd. Gufran and Prashant More were in the top eight position behind the leaders.
The best eight from the preliminary stage were joined by 15 elite men players and 11 elite women players for the Champions League phase. The players will compete in four rounds and the top four will make the semifinals.
Thin margin
In the women’s event, Kajal Kumari led Rashmi Kumari and Naga Jothi by one point, with a cumulative score of 38.
They were followed by S. Approwa, Aisha Khokhawala, Deepa Naik, Kavya Shree and Tanishka Viswakarma.
