CCI Billiards: Dhvaj Haria dazzles with solid 288 break

DhvajHaria of Indian Oil smoothly rolled in a mammoth 288-point break to bulldoze his way past SSimachalam of Railways by an overwhelming 777-227 points margin of victoryin a pre-quarter-final match of the Rs 3.8 lakh prize-money CCI Billiards Classic 2018 here.

The tournament is organised by the Cricket Club of India.

Left-handed cueist Dhvaj was completely focused as he went about his task. He played with a soft touch and controlled the balls to his liking.

Besides the double century run, he managed a break of 96 and a century run of 141 to completely knock the fight out of his opponent, who was not given much opportunities to be at the table.

In the quarter-final, Dhvaj will clash with former Asian Billiards Champion Alok Kumar of ONGC who scored a slick 520-417 win against Devendra Joshi of BPCL in the another pre-quarter-final encounter.

Young Tamil Nadu cueistS Shrikrishna tamed seasoned campaigner and former two-time Asian Billiards champions Dhruv Sitwala of ONGC619-276 with a degree of comfort.

He will clash withSiddharth Parikh of Railways who defeated his compatriot Neeraj Kumar584-416.

ONGC player Sourav Kothari also enjoyed an easy passage to the quarter-finals as he defeated Indian Oil's Brijesh Damani 616-468 on an adjacent table.

Kothari will take onMaharashtra's Rohan Jambusaria who recorded a creditable448-333win against Indian Oil's Aditya Mehta in another last 16 match.

Meanwhile, Railway cueists Ashok Shandilya and S Venkatesh both won their respective rounds of 16 matches to set up a clash in the quarter-finals.

The former World Champion Shandilya staved off a spirited challenge from another former World Champ Rupesh Shah by a 484-421 margin.

On the side table, Venkatesh pulled off a 412-376 victory against Vishal Madan of Maharashtra in another last 16 encounter.

Results Pre-quarter-finals:Sourav Kothari (ONGC) beat Brijesh Damani (IOC)616(140,122,99,99)-468(67,52).

Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) beat Aditya Mehta (IOC) 448(71,73)-333(67,50).

Alok Kumar (ONGC) beat Devendra Joshi (BPCL) 520(93,146)-417(84,60,55).

Dhvaj Haria (ONGC) beat S Simachalam (Rlys)777(96,288,141)-227.

Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) beat Rupesh Shah (ONGC) 484(51,108,50)-421(54,69,131).

K. Venkatesh (Rlys) beat Vishal Madan (Mah) 412(70,80)-376(70).

S. Shrikrishna (BPCL) beat Dhruv Sitwala (ONGC)619(90.83,63,121,63)-276(73).

Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) beat Neeraj Kumar (Rlys)584(134,63)-416(107,42,51).