Loganathan beats Shrikrishna to enter quarters

R Loganathan of TNBSA beat talented Chennai youngster S Shrikrishna (SVS Club) by four frames to two in the pre-quarterfinals of the N Manimaran & Kishan Kothari Memorial Open Snooker Championship 2019 at SVS Club here Monday.

The first four frames were hard fought as the two city cueists shared honours with Shrikrishna, a bronze medalist in the recent Asian U-21 Snooker Championship in Chandigarh, showing glimpses of his skills.

However, Loganathan made his experience count and took the fifth and sixth frames to book a spot in the quarterfinals. He will meet Nitesh Madan (Railways) for a spot in the semifinals.

In another match, Railways' Faisal Khan of Railways quelled a mid-match challenge from Varun Kumar (MCC) to win 4-3.

Khan was up 3-1 before Varun levelled with some impressive play. In the decider, the Railways cueist was dominant and won it in quick time to advance to the last eight. He will take on Delhi's Hanish Sharma next.

Two more Railways players-Nitesh Madan and Pandurangaiah joined Khan in the quarters, with straightforward wins over Mustaq and B C Karthik (Railways) respectively.

Results: Pre-quarterfinals: Faisal Khan (Railways) bt Varun Kumar (MCC) 4-3 (73-41, 31-77(63), 76-58(53), 63-32, 42-52, 31-66, 72-15); Yogesh Kumar (Karnataka) bt Anuj Uppal (Delhi) 4-3 (34-83 (83), 68-53, 76-33, 71-48, 7-70(70), 47-56, 56-49); R Loganathan (TNBSA) bt S Shrikrishna (SVS Club) 4-2 (26-76, 71-25, 21-60, 84(60)-10, 66-12, 61-51); Nitesh Madan (Railways) beat Mustaq (Q-Tricks) 4-2 (12-56, 67-30, 75-24, 67-1, 24-67(66), 94-32).

Hanish Sharma (Delhi) bt Shalouf (Kerala) 4-1 (68-16, 66-36, 64-39, 1-73, 70-0); Prem Prakash (SVS Club) bt Aadesh Kothari (Q-Lounge) 4-1 (73-59, 56-49, 76-64, 5-62, 64-12) Pandurangaiah (Railways) bt B C Karthik (Karnataka) 4-1 (66-6, 63-47, 26-67, 56-31, (93(61)-23); Vijay Nichani (Coimbatore) bt Daksh Reddy (MCC) 4-1 (71-26, 64-69, 62-37, 64-37, 70-34).