Pankaj, Joshi from
India and Praput, Thawat of Thailand reached into Semis
06 April
2012
It was a very
Good Friday for the cueists from Thailand at the Clube Tennis De
Gaspar Dias Miramar, Goa, on the fifth day of 11th ONGC
Asian Billiards Championship. Down by 1-3 games in the best of nine
quarter final, former Asian and world billiards champion, Praput
Chaithanasukan playing against the defending champion, Alok Kumar
from India, grafted a break of 52 in the fifth, clawing back into
reckoning by taking the game.
Having gained
confidence from his fight back in the earlier game, Praput was in
full flow using the top table method of scoring, to advantage, for
an unfinished break of 101 drawing level at 3-3. Alok Kumar not to
be undone, produced a fine effort of 81 in the seventh, but just
when needing only10 points for the game, he went out of position,
not being able to control the roll of the balls. Pouncing on the
offered chance, Praput made sure that he made no mistake in
pocketing this vital game aided by a break of 81.
Making a last
ditch attempt, Alok managed a break of 54 in the eighth game, but
again not able to control the run of the balls,went out of position.
Subsequently, Praput closed the game and match with a break of 65.
In the much
awaited clash between two former world billiard champions, Pankaj
Advani of India having done a thorough homework before the match,
produced a gem of a century break to gain early ascendancy over
Peter Gilchrist of Singapore. Continuing in the same vein, Pankaj
had good breaks of 54 in the second and 86 in the third games in the
process of taking a commanding 3-0 lead.
Gilchrist still
not out of the shock due to the defeat suffered at the hands of
Thawat last evening, was not able to find his usual rhythmic flow in
the first three games. Even so, he did manage to get one back by
prevailing over Pankaj in the fourth game.
Knowing fully
well that he could not relax his grip at any stage, Pankaj again
reached the desired level of concentration for a break of 97 to take
the fifth game. Peter, however, a striking a purple patch for once,
compiled a break of 99 to close the gap to 2-4.
The seventh saw
Peter continuing his good form in the shape of a break of 76. Yet
lapsing into errors, he gave a semblance of an opening to Pankaj who
promptly got into his full stride unleashing an unbeaten century to
clinch the game and match in style.
In another
quarter final between two contenders from India, Devendra Joshi got
the better of Rupesh Shah by 5-3 to enter the semi finals along with
Pankaj and Praput. Joshi took an early 2-0 lead but Rupesh rallied
well to snatch the third. Nevertheless, Joshi who was a picture of
all concentration, picked up the fourth and fifth games for an
unassailable lead of 4-1.
Rupesh not the
one to give in so easily, fought back with a degree of vengeance to
take the sixth and seventh games. Even so Joshi struck peak form to
score an unfinished break of 101 to complete the tally.
Having
surprised Gilchrist in his earlier league encounter, Thawat
Sujaritthurakarn from Thailand was steadiness personified in his
match with Dhruv Sitwala from India. Dhruv had no clue as to what
had hit him in the process of the Thai taking the first three games
on a trot. Such was the clinical display of this methodical Thai
cueist that Dhruv just about got a single chance in the three games
to do anything worthwhile. Keeping his patience some how, Dhruv was
able to wrest the fourth game, but that was just about all. Thawat
took the fifth game on the run of play giving one chance to Dhruv
for a possible comeback in the sixth game. But having collected a
break of 94, Dhruv made a colossal error when missing a regulation
‘long loser’ in the left hand side top pocket, the cue ball missing
the pocket and the resultant rebound missing the opponents ball too,
for a possible resultant cannon, just by a whisker. Thawat
displaying an admirable temperament closed the game and match with a
superb 51 break.
At the
completion of the league stage of the 13th ONGC Asian
Under-21 Snooker Championship 2012 five Indian cueists have made the
knockout grade of pre-quarter finals. Lalit Dahiya being the only
casualty among the six Indian entrants.
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