Pankaj proves too powerful, Vatnani lucky

Hyderabad: World champion Pankaj Advani and Hyderabad’s Lucky Vatnani made winning starts on Thursday at the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India selection camp tournaments being played at the Baulkline Cuesports Academy in the city.

Pankaj proved too powerful for Dhawj Hari, blanking him 3-0 in the opening round of his 150 up best-of-five frames billiards game. Pankaj’s mastery was evident from the 151-13, 151-38, 150-9 scoreline. Lucky had to rally before overcoming Ishpreet Singh 4-2. Having won the first two frames, he surrendered the next two before inching ahead with a commanding 94-9 win. The sixth went neck and neck before Lucky clinched it 47-44.

The country’s top players are participating in this round robin format tournament to make the men’s snooker and billiards as well as women’s snooker teams for the World championships.

The Results

Snooker: Manan Chandra bt Bharat Sisodiya 4-2 (46-67, 83-47, 73-46, 73-03, 76-04); Sandeep Gulati bt Dilip Kumar 4-1 (35-68, 69-35, 80-36, 66-37, 68-06); Lucky Vatnani bt Ishpreet Singh 4-2 (69-13, 76-10, 00-117, 48-62, 94-09, 47-44).

Billiards: Sourav Kotari bt Sankar Rao 3-1 (151-75, 151-03, 135-150, 151-78); Pankaj Advani bt Dhwaj Haria 3-0 (151-13, 151-38, 150-09)