Advani, Shandilya in National billiards summit showdown

Dec 14:  World champion Pankaj Advani dethrones defending champion Geet Sethi in the semis to set up title clash with Ashok Shandilya, while Vidya Pillai gets past Anuja Chandra to win the ladies snooker title denying Chandra hat-trick of her titles.

World champion Pankaj Advani and Ashok Shandilya set up title clash after defeating their respective opponents Geet Sethi and Rupesh Shah in the semi-finals of the men’s senior billiards of the 74th National championships at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

Advani ousted defending champion Geet Sethi 1323-1064, while Ashok Shandilya defeated Rupesh Shah 1052-934 in their respective semi-finals.

“It was a very tough match. I won’t use the word revenge to describe this victory. But this is a very satisfying win as he is a formidable opponent any time,” said Advani, after winning the match.

However, in the ladies snooker final, Vidya Pillai of Tamil Nadu took a sweet revenge on Anuja Chandra (PSPB) with a hard fought marathon five-frame 81-3, 41-52, 49-59, 54-46, 52-23 victory over her opponent. Anuja had prevailed over Vidya in the last National finals in three straight frames.

Sethi had to blame himself for missing easy chances. He failed to come up with a century break during the first session as he took much time to settle down, while Advani was more consistent, as he moved in to his third final.

On the other hand, Shandilya displayed classic stuff on the adjacent table right from the start as he took a whopping 747-172 lead in the first session itself.

The 39-year-old Shandilya had a tougher time in the second session as the reigning world champion (time format) Rupesh bounced back by producing an incredible break of 453 on the 29th visit to take his score from 447 to 900, which left his opponent stranded.

But that was the only extraordinary effort put up by Rupesh as he could not further come up while Shandilya’s breaks of 291 (eighth), 132 (17th) and 153 (23rd) kept his rival at bay.

RESULTS:

Men: Billiards (semi-finals): Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Geet Sethi (Guj) 1323-1064; Ashok Shandilya bt Rupesh Shah 1052-934.

Ladies: Snooker (Final): Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Anuja Chandra (PSPB) 81-3, 41-52, 49-59, 54-46, 52-23; Semifinals: Anuja bt Heena Khandelwal 44-59, 50-57, 62-16, 80-29, 50-8; Vidya bt R. Uma Devi 45-70, 4-71, 82-34, 49-17, 77-29.

Junior billiards (Men: Qualifying): Harshendu Giri w/o Mundir Sherazi; Andy Chinn w/o Naman Agarwal; Reza Merchant bt V. Ranjith 285-213; Ishaan Bhale bt Talhah A. Mujadaddy 303-198; Hitesh Soni bt Mujaddid A. Kujaddady 282-10; C. D’Souza bt Kiran Babu 273-257; Reza Merchant bt Ishaan Bhale 369-289.