Snooker
Kolkata: Indian pro Aditya Mehta registered back-to-back wins to remain on course for title in the 2nd Kolkata Open National Invitation Snooker Championship.
Fresh from finishing second in the Indian Open, Mehta posted 115 points clearance in the opening frame against Laxman Rawat in the last session match of the day. He continued with his form in next two frames as well and made it 3-0 win over Rawat.
Rawat had come close to make it 1-1 in the second frame but missed the crucial blue and Aditya closed the proceedings by winning that frame 72-61 before wrapping it up by winning the third 70-24. Earlier local favourite Sourav Kothari was unlucky to lose to Faisal Khan despite recovering from being down by two frames.
Faisal dominated in the first two frames and played many good shots to carry the match towards his side but in the third frame Sourav contested really hard to curtail Faisal and mark a dent in his winning streak.
Another home challenger Brijesh Damani's match against Delhi's Sundeep Gulati swung like a pendulum with both the players winning the alternate frames. Gulati had chances in the fourth frame to close the proceedings but Brijesh ended the game and forced the decider to be laid on the green baize.
The fifth frame was almost one-sided where Brijesh contested well and sealed the match 3-2.
Results: Group A: Aditya Mehta beat Rohit Rajgarhia :: 3-0 (49-21, 56-42, 69-24); Aditya Mehta beat Laxman Rawat :: 3-0 (122(115)-00, 72-61, 70-24); Rohit Rajgarhia beat Ravi Goenka :: 3-2 (48-66, 69-37, 70-31, 40-73, 74-44). Group B: Manan Chandra beat Dharminder Lilly :: 3-0 (66-27, 75-22, 88-07); Dharminder Lilly beat Shivam Arora :: 3-0 (50-42, 64-29, 59-13).
Group C: Yasin Merchant beat Rajesh Tulsian :: 3-0 (80(50)-07, 70-10, 63-17); Brijesh Damani beat Sundeep Gulati :: 3-2 (84-14, 09-57, 43-04, 39-64, 73-08).
Group D: Aamer Hussain beat Shreevardhan Poddar 3-2 (30-66, 58-38, 48-03, 16-66, 62-57); Alok Kumar beat Ankit Kariwala 3-1 (26-61, 71(68)-15, 77-12, 56-42); Ankit Kariwala beat Shreevardhan Poddar 3-0 (84-35, 67-33, 80-31); Faisal Khan beat Sourav Kothari 3-2 (59-15, 70-32, 40-48, 51-62, 73-00).
( Source : PTI )
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