Bhopal, Dec 2 (IANS): Firm favourites Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta, both representing Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) made an early exit, losing their respective matches in the last 16 round of the Men's 6-Red snooker event of the National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2021 here on Thursday.
The 36-year-old Advani, the World 6-Red champion and defending champion, went down to an inspired teammate Dhvaj Haria, who was in tremendous form to carve out a 5-2 win. In the other encounter, which was also a contest between PSPB players the 39-year-old Brijesh Damani prevailed over 36-year-old Aditya Mehta by a similar 5-2 scoreline.
The left-handed Haria started in rousing fashion constructing breaks of 60 and 52 in the opening two frames and quickly raced to a 4-0 lead. India's most decorated cueist Advani, winner of 24 world titles, showed signs of fighting back as he stemmed the rot by compiling a 56-point break to take the fifth and also pocketed the sixth frame to bridge the gap. But, the tall Haria dashed Advani's hopes by comfortably winning the seventh to wrap up the contest with the frame scores reading 60-05, 52-07, 45-06, 38-28, 04-60, 00-47, and 49-11 in his favour.
The Kolkata-based Damani played steadily and went for his pots to build small breaks which helped him to gain the upper hand against Mehta before going on to record a 12-45, 75-14, 37-00, 24-32, 33-31, 37-04, and 53-05 verdict and a passage to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, local challenger and defending champion Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh made a shock exit, losing to Karnataka's Varshaa Sanjeev 4-3 in seven nerve-wracking frames in the Ladies 6-Red snooker quarter-finals.
Varsha's senior teammates Vidya Pillai and Chitra Maghimairaj also progressed to the semi-finals. Vidya Pillai defeated Tamil Nadu's Neena Praveen 4-1 (04-34, 35-04, 42-38, 49-00, 35-28), while Chitra got the better of compatriot Keerthana Pandian 4-2 (12-46, 44-06, 43-21, 21-38, 36-25, 33-18).
Results: Women's 6-Red snooker – Quarter-finals: Anupama Ramachandran (TN) beat Arantxa Sanchis (MAH) 4-2 (58-11, 01-44, 41-21, 22-42, 52-09. 32-24); Vidya Pillai (KAR) beat Neena Praveen (TN) 4-1 (04-34, 35-04, 42-38, 49-00, 35-28); Chitra Magimairaj (KAR) beat Keerthana Pandian (KAR) 4-2 (12-46, 44-06, 43-21, 21-38, 36-25, 33-18);
Varshaa Sanjeev (KAR) beat Amee Kamani (MP) 4-3.
Men's 6-Red snooker - Pre-quarterfinals: Shivam Arora (MAH) beat J. Varun Kumar (TN) 5-4 (66(40)-00, 66-00, 01-32, 05-40, 70(70)-00, 71(70)-00, 11-34, 10-61 42-01); Himanshu Jain (TEL) beat Malkeet Singh (RSPB) 5-2 (68-00, 38-16, 25-35, 37-13, 12-51, 52-00, 48-00); Brijesh Damani (PSPB) beat Aditya Mehta (PSPB) 5-2 (12-45, 75-14, 37-00, 24-32, 33-31, 37-04, 53-05); Manan Chandra (PSPB) beat Kreishh Gurbaxani (MAH) 5-3 (36-20, 62-00, 26-37, 06-64(64), 32-45, 40-01, 43-37, 73(73)-04); S. Shrikrishna (PSPB) beat R. Girish (RSPB) 5-2 (69-00, 38-08, 28-41, 12-36, 39-25, 39-00, 66-00); Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) beat Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 5-2 (60(60)-05, 52(52)-07, 45-06, 38-28, 04-60(56), 00-47, 49-11); Kamal Chawla (RSPB) beat Mohd. Hussain Khan (RSPB) 5-3 (01-37, 15-39, 50-14, 52-15, 47-16, 40-01, 17-30, 36-00); Vijay Nichani (TN) beat Anuj Uppal (DEL) 5-3 (17-37, 35-36, 15-43, 46-11, 66-00, 58-13, 43-00, 40-39).