Cueist Saha in third round of Indian Open qualifying

West Bengal's Kingshuk Saha staged a terrific fight back to overcome Hrithik Jain of Indore by four frames to three in a tense second round match of the fourth Indian Open snooker qualifying tournament here Wednesday.

Saha took time to get off the blocks and conceded a massive advantage to his opponent, who pocketed the opening three frames to lead 3-0. However, Saha got his act together and gradually started to get going.

Having found his touch, Saha was on a roll and in dramatic fashion turned things around by winning the subsequent four frames to clinch a 32-42, 38-68, 37-63, 60-16, 55-42, 85-40, 63-12 victory at the Cricket Club of India billiards hall.

Meanwhile, Siddharth Parikh of Railways had an easy outing as he tamed Meherzad Bhagwar of Mumbai 4-0 (67-12, 69-17, 71-21, 84-36).

Vipin Premi of Uttar Pradesh also cruised to a convincing 4-0 win against Mumbai's Tej Chawla. Premi, after some early resistance from his rival, had things under control as he completed a 54-37, 64-28, 54-18, 50-31 victory.

Dhavaj Haria of Gujarat was another player to take the short route to the third round. The left hander defeated Aditya Deshpande 4-0 (71-49, 67-20, 59-06, 59-26).

Second round results: Kingshuk Saha beat Hrithik Jain 4-3 (32-42, 38-68, 37-63, 60-16, 55-42, 85-40, 63-12); Abhijeet Ranade beat Samar Khandelwal 4-2 (68-26, 66-48, 29-69, 42-65, 57-11, 52-24); Ibrahim Shaikh beat Kewal Mahadeshwar 58-51, 50-11, 117-05, 52-20); Johnson Narsidani beat Aashit Pandya 4-1 (60-33, 02-56, 59-46, 50-47, 67-33); Nikhil Oootam beat Rajwardhan Joshi 4-1 (59-29, 55-06, 33-67, 56-55, 60-24); Raj Khandwala beat Harshad Sonkamble 4-0 (61(43)-03, 57-50, 73-39, 40-28); Vipin Premi beat Tej Chawla 4-0 (54-37, 64-28, 54-18, 50-31); Dhavaj Haria beat Aditya Deshpande 4-0 (71-49, 67-20, 59-06, 59-26); Siddharth Parikh beat Meherzad Bhagwar 4-0 (67-12, 69-17, 71-21, 84-36); Gaurav Jaisinghani beat Vishal Vaya 4-3 (01-64, 55-17, 59-96, 54-58, 70-30, 59-52, 56-24); Akshay Kumar beat Dhanya Bandhari 4-1 (11-85(68), 57-30, 74(60)-11, 74-25, 84-25).