Chandigarh,7 Sep : Rajat and Manav enter second round of 23rd Chandigarh (UT) Billiards and Snooker Championship. It was inaugurated yesterday with great enthusiasm at Big SCF 15, II nd floor, Sector 22-D, Chandigarh.
The matches of Sr. Billiards began today and as the contest for the first time is now being played in frame format against the time format, the matches shall be exciting. The matches are now like 20-20 cricket and have become very entertaining.
In the opening match in Sr. Billiards Rajat Khaneja beat Sandeep Duggal 2-1. (100-68, 65-100, 100-72) in a close contest.The match was a tight one with both the players showing skill by potting the red ball. The first frame it was almost neck to neck, when Rajat came with a good break and won the first frame. Second frame again was a close one and Sandeep who has won several State tittles, came with a nice break of 35 to win the frame. The 3rd decider frame was again a close one, but Rajat made good break of 38 to clear the frame and won 2-1.
In another close contest Manav Dhawan bt. Sanjay Duggal 2-1(69-100, 100-52, 100-82). Sanjay played well in the first frame and did not allow Manav to settle. He was consistent in and made small breaks to steel the first frame. But in the second and third break Manav showed his temperament and played good Billiards to outclass Sanjay and won the match. Manav now meets Arif, the top seed in the next round.
The third match between Ashu Duggal and Amit Verma was a one sided affair with Ashu easily defeating his opponent 2-0. (100-73, 100-78). Amit could not play well and match with Ashu’s skill. Ashu played all round the table and kept on making small breaks of twenties.
In Jr. Billiards Ankit Sharma was too good for Madhur Mukhi and won easily2-0 (50-31, 50-23).
In nail biting Sr Snooker event Arif Akhtar, of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., who is basically a billiards player, showed safety skills in snooker and beat Mandeep Makkar in close contest and managed to win 3-2.(61-49, 67-26, 67-24, 59-42, 53-22) It was a marathon match which lasted for two hours 30 min as both the players showed good safety. First frame Makkar won on the last ball by potting the black. Second frame Arif showed what safety can do and did not give any opportunity to Mandeep. Then he potted a long red with stun and placed black and made a break of 26 and played safe. Makkar, who has very good potting skills could not beat Arif in safety. With another break of 22 the frame was won by Arif.
Third frame was slightly one sided. Fourth frame Mandeep potted a red in long pocket and made a break of 32 and took a good lead. With one ball and all colours Mandeep was leading by 29 points. Arif potted red with pink, then yellow, green, brown, blue, but missed a easy pink and lost the frame. Fifth frame was again very tight and Arif showed great safety shorts. The venue was all in silence watching the exciting match. When ever Arif got an opportunity he made 12-15 points and played safe. He ultimately won last frame 53-22.
In another one sided affair in Sr. Snooker top seed Rajat Khaneja outplayed Vijay Bhopali 3-0.( 49-13, 54-26, 79-25)