On a day of high drama, 21-year old Saurav Kothari from Kolkata hogged the limelight by eliminating seven times World billiards champion Geet Sethi and qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Reliance Industries Ltd Indian Cue Masters League at the Gujarat Sports Club, in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Kothari played and beat Sethi twice, the first time in the Group C league and then in a play-off after the two tied for second spot behind reigning World billiards champion Pankaj Advani from Bangalore. Advani was only one of three players to win all his league matches.
The others with all-win record were National snooker champion Alok Kumar from Sangrur (Group A) and Delhi's Manan Chandra (Group B). Finishing behind the group toppers were Ashok Shandilya, the former World billiards champion (Gr A) and Mumbai's Yasin Merchant (Gr B), who had completed his league engagements yesterday itself.
Meanwhile, Rafat Habib from Chennai, the 2002 Busan Asian Games doubles gold medallist, topped Group D, followed by Kolkata's Mohd. Asim, who came through on a superior game-difference in a three-way tie that also involved Devendra Joshi and Sandeep Gulati.
The quarter-final draw is: Rafat Habib vs Yasin Merchant; Alok Kumar vs Saurav Kothari; Manan Chandra vs Mohd. Asim; Pankaj Advani vs Ashok Shandilya.
The results:
Group A: Sumit Talwar bt Brijesh Damani 2-0 (Pool 3-1; Billiards 51-37); Anuj Uppal bt Ashok Shandilya 2-1 (P 3-1; B 51-4; Snooker 70-31); Shandilya bt Talwar 2-1 (B 50-6; P 1-3; S 62-29); Shandilya bt Damani 2-0 (B 51-23; P 3-2); Alok bt Shandilya 2-0 (P 3-0; B 50-45); Alok bt Talwar 2-1 (P 0-3; B 51-20; S 72-18).
Qualifiers - Alok Kumar 1, Shandilya 2.
Group B: Aditya Mehta bt P V Patel 2-0 (S 94-8; P 3-2); Manan Chandra bt Prabhat 2-0 (P 3-0; S 65-35); Chandra bt Prabhat 2-0 (P 3-0; S 65-35); Mehta bt Prabhat S 88-8; P 3-1); Chandra bt Mehta 2-1 (P 0-3; B 50-5; S 72-47).
Qualifiers - Chandra 1, Yasin Merchant 2.
Group C: Geet Sethi bt Dhruv Sitwala 2-0 (P 3-1; S 67-31); Saurav Kothari bt Saviney Jain 2-0 (S 67-9; b 51-32); Harish Gandhi bt Prabhat 2-0 (S 66-36; P 3-2); Kothari bt Sethi 2-1 (P 3-1; S 24-27; B 50-46); Pankaj Advani bt Kothari 2-1 (P 2-3; S 91-18; B 51-11); Advani bt Sethi 2-0 (P 3-2; S 53-15).
Play-off for 2-3 positions: Kothari bt Sethi 2-1.
Qualifiers - Advani 1, Kothari 2.
Group D: Rafat Habib bt Sandeep Gulati 2-1 (S 41-80; P 3-1; B 50-41); Md Asim bt Gunjan Patel 2-0 (P 3-0; B 51-19); Gulati bt Asim 2-1 (P 3-2; B 6-52; S 87-43); Asim bt Devendra Joshi 2-0 (S 62-45; P 3-2); Habib bt Asim 2-1 (S 33-69; P 3-2; B 50-15); Joshi bt Gulati 2-0 (P 3-0; B 50-0).
Qualifiers - Habib 1, Asim 2.
