Pune's Altamash fights back from brink

Pune's Altamash Saifi fought back from the brink to turn the tables on local cueist Veer Singh Nagi for a 3-2 win in a first round match of the CCI All India Open Snooker Championship on Tuesday.

Veer started on a promising note and pocketed the opening two frames to enjoy a 2-0 advantage.

However, Altamash came roaring back and with some steady play won the next three frames to clinch a deserving 46-68, 58-79, 63-55, 60-43 and 55-8 victory to advance to the second round.

Another player from Pune, Viren Sharma, also progressed to the second round by recording a comfortable win in four frames against Mumbai-based Aditya Agrawal.

Viren was in complete control and raced to a 78-5. 22-65, 74-16, 60-19 success.

Ameya Sankhala of Park Club got pas Manoj Kasare of Khar Gymkhana 3-2 (42-31, 18-57, 77-35, 26-65, 58-9) in an interesting second round match between two city-based players. Avenish Shah of Mumbai outclassed Barodas Oswald Massey 3-0 (54-20, 71-49, 57-44) to move into the third round.