Playing the qualifying match in the winner's bracket, Pal's beginning was jittery as he lost the first frame.
But as the match progressed, Pal found his rhythm and won the next three frames on the trot before sealing the match 25-43, 37-07, 30-14, 45-21, 13-48, 39-05.
Another favourite, Lucky Vatnani, also had to sweat it out against junior National Champion Avinash Kumar, who took a 3-1 before the former tightened the strings.
The other names who made the main round include Manan Chandra, Rafath Habib, Rupesh Shah, I V Rajiv, Khizar Raoof, Vidit Gawri, Shahbaaz Khan, Abhimanyu Gandhi among others.
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