National Billiards: Defending champion Kothari crashes out of last 16

Defending champion Sourav Kothari crashed out of the last-16 after losing to Gujarat's Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) 1-3 in the National Billiards and Snooker Championship being played here at The Bengal Rowing Club Thursday.

Haria surged ahead with two breaks of 137 and 110 in the first and third game which made his position a formidable one against Kothari.

Kothari, however, could have done better in the fourth game to extend the tie to the decider, but fell short by 9 points.

Local talent Brijesh Damani (PSPB) shone better and reached the quarter finals defeating former Asian champion, Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 3-2.

Despite having a good start, Joshi failed to deliver his best in next two games. On the other side, Damani was more focused and excelled well with decent breaks to gain a 2-1 lead.

Joshi once again returned to the match and set decider with a worthy break of 86 points, but Damani did better in last game and stepped into the quarter finals.

Last year's runner-up, Alok Kumar (PSPB) also lost the battle of last 16 against Siddharth Parikh of Railways 2-3. Both the cueists won alternate frames but Parikh controlled the decider and made an unfinished break of 150 points to move into the last eight.

Maharashtra talent Jaiveer Dhingra gave a tough fight to win against Ashok Shandilya of Railways. The first game saw Dhingra win by 9 points and further pocketed the next too with an over 100-point difference.

However, Shandilya managed to take the third game. But Dhingra improved his standing in the fourth game and sealed the match 3-1.