Kothari, Sitwala knocked out in quarterfinals of Western India Billiards and Snooker C’ship

Mumbai, Aug 17 (PTI) National champions Sourav Kothari (snooker) and Dhruv Sitwala (billiards) crashed out in the quarterfinal while Pankaj Advani won both his matches in the Western India Billiards and Snooker here on Saturday.

Former national champion Kamal Chawla from the Railways potted steadily and charged past Kothari (ONGC) by a 5-3 (71-38, 53-65, 96-0, 70-9, 29-79, 55-17, 26-96, 96-40) margin in the senior snooker event.

Chawla, from Madhya Pradesh, constructed breaks of 50, 84, and 54 in the second, third and the fourth frames before signing off with an effort of 77 to seal the win.

Later, S Srikrishna from Tamil Nadu rolled in a neatly constructed break of 248, which helped him beat Sitwala 694-610 in the contest lasting 150 minutes.

Srikrishna was leading by 400 points at the halfway stage before the three-time Asian billiards champion Sitwala fought back to close the gap but his effort went in vain.

Srikrishna won a tense deciding frame to edge out Laxman Rawat 5-4 (15-65, 40-59, 64-62, 78-22, 87-29, 72-58, 19-68, 59-22, and 69-31) victory to enter in the snooker quarter-finals.

But it was a memorable outing for Advani who won both his snooker and billiards quarterfinal clashes.

In snooker, Advani blanked Anuj Uppal 5-0 (50-1, 78-18, 73-24, 109-5, and 91-15). The ace cueist Advani’s best efforts were 49, 49, and 90 in the last three frames.

Advani returned later to crush Rayaan Razmi in their billiards clash while producing breaks of 290, 133 and 108.

Results:

Senior snooker quarterfinals: Kamal Chawla (RLWYS) bt Sourav Kothari (ONGC) 5-3 (71-38, 53(50)-65, 96(84)-0, 70(54)-9, 29-79, 55-17, 26-96, 96(77)-40); S. Srikrishna (BPCL) bt Laxman Rawat (IOCL) 5-4 ((15-65, 40-59, 64-62, 78-22, 87(71)-29, 72-58, 19-68, 59-22, 69-31); Faisal Khan (RSPB) bt Shoaib Khan (DEL) 5-3 (80-25, 60-6, 12-70, 37-81, 55-64, 67-27, 70(65)-9, 79-31); Pankaj Advani (ONGC) bt Anuj Uppal (DEL) (50-1, 78-18, 73(49)-24, 109(49)-5, 91(90)-15).

Senior billiards quarterfinals: S Srikrishna (BPCL) bt Dhruv Sitwala (ONGC) 694(248,96,92,89,78,74)-610(156,103,97,96,86); Dhvaj Haria (IOCL) bt Sumer Mago (MUM) 558(78,75)-357(92); Pankaj Advani (ONGC) bt Rayaan Razmi (MUM) 898(290, 133, 108)-449(198); Shahyan Razmi (Mum) bt Rishabh Thakkar (MUM) 435(75)-406(55,556,113).