Keerath Bhandaal loses to Retra in Snooker Masters North Zone

Delhi's Nitesh Madan made short work of statemate Ashmeet Singh while the sub-junior national snooker champion, Keerath Bhandaal, put up a spirited fight before losing to Bunty Retra on the second day of the RKG Snooker Masters North Zone championship, here today.
Madan came out all guns blazing to put paid to the hopes of Ashmeet 3-0 at the Megapool Snooker Academy in Dwarka.
Madan, the national number two, constructed breaks of 100, 49 and 68 to reign supreme on the green baize.
Bhandaal, who also won the Junior Billiards and Snooker titles along with sub-junior snooker at the recently concluded National Billiards & Snooker Championships in Gwalior, played out of her skin to match the pace of her opponent but Retra edged past in the final frame to seal the issue in his favour.

Retra won the first frame comfortably before losing the second frame. Retra again surged ahead with a break of 60 in the third frame but Bhandaal again drew parity with a fine break of 69.
In the fifth and the decider, Retra showed fine potting skills and pulled the frame demonstrating brilliant game.

In the other matches of the day, Delhi's star player, Anuj Uppal did not give his opponent from Uttar Pradesh much chance to visit the table as he scored a comfortable 3-0 win over Akash Srivastava.
Shivam Vats, the youngest player in the championship, impressed the crowd with his grit and determination but lost to Maharashtra's Rohan Sahalkar 1-3.

Players from Madhya Pradesh, Bharat Sisodiya and Prateek Jain, made a winning start to their campaign and advanced to the next round of the championship.