Laxman Rawat shocked in snooker competition

Asian 6-Red champion Laxman Rawat was today shocked as he lost back-to-back ties in the snooker competition in the CCI Classic Billiards & Snooker Tournament.
India no. 7 and Maharashtra's top player first went down to Malkeet Singh of CCI and later to Nitesh Madan of Railways by identical 2-3 margin in exciting Group B matches here.
While he forced the decider after trailing 1-2 against Singh, Rawat was 0-2 against Madan before initiating another stunning recovery, only to lose his way in the decider.
Meanwhile, title favourite Aditya Mehta kicked off his campaign with a 3-1 win over Jaiveer Dhingra, while India no. 2 Kamal Chawla of Railways struggled to a 3-2 victory. Dharmender Lily of Punjab had an easy outing, prevailing 3-0.

Nishant Dossa of CCI caused the other upset of the day when he shocked Siddharth Parikh 3-2 in Group C after trailing 1-2 and snatching the nail-biting decider on the black.
India no. 8 Shivam Arora of Bihar experienced mixed fortunes in Group A. He was shocked by former Maharashtra champion Nikhil Ootam of CCI 2-3. He then made amends with hard-fought 3-2 wins over Dilip Kumar of Railways and Maharashtra junior champion Jaiveer Dhingra.

India no. 5 Faisal Khan of Railways almost joined the casualty list before rallying from 0-2 to snatch a 3-2 win over compatriot Arvind Kumar.

Khan's effort included the tournament's highest break of 119 in the crucial fourth frame that unfortunately ended when he missed the pink.
Results:
Group A: Shivam Arora (Bihar) bt Jaiveer Dhingra (PSPB) 3-2; Shivam Arora bt Dilip Kumar (Rly) 3-2; Nikhil Ootam (CCI) bt Shivam Arora 3-2; Jaiveer Dhingra bt Dilip Kumar 3-1; Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Jaiveer Dhingra 3-1; Dilip Kumar bt I H Manudev (Ktk) 3-2.
Group B: Hasan Badami (CCI) bt Nitesh Madan (Rly) 3-1; Malkeet Singh (CCI) bt Laxman Rawat (PSPB) 3-2; Nitesh Madan bt Laxman Rawat 3-2; Kamal Chawla (Rly) bt Manav Panchal (Mah) 3-2.

Group C: Nishant Dossa (CCI) bt Siddharth Parikh (Rly) 3-2; Dharmender Lily (Pun) bt Nishant Dossa 3-0; Pushpender Singh (Rly) bt Kekoo Nicholson (CCI) 3-0.
Group D: Rafath Habib (Rly) bt Aditya Agrawal (Rly) 3-0; Himanshu Jain (AP) bt Rovin D'Souza (Rly) 3-0; Aditya Agrawal bt Raj Khandwala (CCI) 3-2; Faisal Khan (Rly) bt Arvind Kumar (Rly) 3-2.