Sitwala, Jagtiani scrape into quarters in National Billiards

Thu, Sep 02 10 10:57 PM

Pune, Sep 2 (PTI) Dhruv Sitwala, Shyam Jagtiani and Bhalchandra Bhaskar recorded close 3-2 wins to advance to the quarterfinals of National Billiards Championships here today. In the pre-quarterfinals played on knock out basis, Dhruv Sitwala scored a surprising 3-2 win over Devendra Joshi winning (152-104), 151-144), 103-151, 75-152, 150-75 at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana. Shyam Jagtiani recorded the first upset win of the event scraping past Sourav Kothari (151-22, 152-80, 34-151, 39-151, 150-132) to make it to the last eight stage. Bhalchandra Bhaskar, who played for the country at the recent World Championships, had to go through a harrowing time before scoring a 3-2 win over Arun Agarwal 150-148, 29-152, 150-76, 124-151, 151-75). Results: Pre-Quarterfinals: Geet Sethi beat V Subramaniam 3-0 (150-87, 152-112, 151-05); Dhruv Sitwala beat Devendra Joshi 3-2 (152-104, 151-144, 103-151, 75-152, 150-75); Ashok Shandilya beat Shahbaz Khan 3-0 (150-145, 151-49, 150-22); Pankaj Advani beat K Venkatesham 3-0 (151-36, 151-08, 151-50); Rupesh Shah beat Siddharth Parikh 3-1 (150-57, 100-152), 152-88, 151-08); B Bhaskar beat Arun Agarwal 3-2 (150-148, 29-152, 150-76, 124-151, 151-75); Shyam Jagtiani beat Sourav Kothari 3-2 (151-22, 152-80, 34-151, 39-151, 150-132); Alok Kumar beat D Raj Kumar 3-0 (151-69, 150-108, 152-70).

Source: Published>