Arun Agrawal shocked former national champion in a thriller to storm into the semis, while title favourite Pankaj Advani fired a superb break of 530 in the CCI Classic Billiards and Snooker Tournament
Pankaj Advani
Mumbai: Arun Agrawal shocked former national champion Alok Kumar in a thriller to storm into the semifinals, while title favourite Pankaj Advani fired a superb break of 530 in the CCI Classic Billiards and Snooker Tournament here today.
Pankaj Advani
While Agrawal was the toast of the day, eight-time world champion Advani fired the huge break against world bronze medallist Devendra Joshi in another quarter-final tie to reach the semis on an exciting day of big breaks.
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Title contender Advani's effort eclipsed national champion Sourav Kothari's equally brilliant 494 earlier in the tournament, as he sealed a last four clash with former world champion Rupesh Shah, while Agrawal will take on twice world runner-up Dhruv Sitwala in the other semi-final.
Apart from Advani, who also added a 247 break in the pre-quarter-finals, Shah sparkled with a break of 186 en route to a win over world bronze medallist Ashok Shandilya and Sitwala, who hit a 249 in the last 16, fired a 187 while upsetting Kothari in the quarter-finals.
Ten-time Maharashtra champion Agrawal got off to a dream start as he surged to a significant lead of 180 points at the end of the first hour of the two-and-a-half hour quarter-final against Kumar. But Kumar, the 2011 Asian champion, initiated a fine recovery to lead 459-427 with crucial breaks of 86 and 68 with about 40 minutes remaining.
Agrawal then fought back and fired a timely 138 break that helped him surge to a crucial 100-point advantage with 22 minutes to go. He added another decisive break of 47 and with just six minutes remaining, Kumar had little time for a reversal of fortunes.
"I have been consistent from the beginning of the tournament and improved with every game. I dared to go for my shots while, I feel, Alok played under pressure and made quite a few mistakes," explained Agrawal. "When Alok took that lead with two breaks, everything suddenly began going right for him. But I remained focused and managed to hold on. The breaks in the end proved decisive," he added.
Earlier, in the pre-quarter-finals, Agrawal ousted former Railways champion Siddharth Parikh in another tight contest. It was neck to neck battle until the halfway mark of the two-hour duel until Agrawal surged to a lead of 190 points and with just 15 minutes to go Parikh was left stranded.
Results: Quarter-finals: Rupesh Shah (PSPB) bt Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 607(186)-288; Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt Sourav Kothari (PSPB) 619(187)-376; Arun Agrawal (Mah) bt Alok Kumar (PSPB) 668(86,138)-539; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 1046(92,530)-368(112). Pre-Quarter-finals: Alok Kumar bt K. Venkatesham (Rlys) 594(104)-405; Ashok Shandilya bt D Rajkumar (Ktk) 505(100)-387; Pankaj Advani bt IH Manudev (Ktk) 988(120-121,247,113)-461; Arun Agrawal bt Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) 587-438; Devendra Joshi bt Malkeet Singh (Rlys) 778-316; Rupesh Shah bt Aditya Agrawal (Rlys) 712(99,100,98,112)-308; Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Jaiveer Dhingra (PSPB) 871(151,164,105,168)-235; Dhruv Sitwala bt Nalin Patel (Mah) 540(249)-326.
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