Seasoned cueists Habib, Kumar in 9-ball last-16

Railways cueist Rafath Habib and Avinash Kumar of Delhi fashioned three back-to-back wins to qualify for the knock out pre-quarter-finals of the Rs 1.89 lakh NSCI-BoI All India 9-Ball Open Pool tournament here today.
Experienced Tamil Nadu-based cueist Habib topped Group C and was joined by Railways teammate Rovin D'Souza, who finished second. Kumar topped Group B, while Brijesh Damani of Indian Oil snatched a crucial win over local cueist Hasan Badami to finish second with two wins and a loss.
Mumbai cueists Mahesh Jagdale and Nikhil Ootam made it from Group A, where the surprise loser was 2010 national champion Sundeep Gulati of Delhi, while Malkeet Singh of Railway and Ishpreet Singh Chadha of Mumbai qualified from Group H.

Results (all from Mumbai unless stated otherwise): Group A: Sundeep Gulati (Delhi) bt Arun Madhu (TN) 5-0; Mahesh Jagdale bt Nikhil Ootam 5-4; Jagdale bt Gulati 5-3; Ootam bt Madhu 5-3; Jagdale bt Madhu 5-2; Ootam bt Gulati 5-3.
Group B: Brijesh Damani (PSPB) bt Prabdeep Singh 5-4; Avinash Kumar (Delhi) bt Hasan Badami 5-4; Kumar bt Damani 5-2; Badami bt Prabdeep Singh 5-1; Kumar bt Prabdeep 5-0; Damani bt Badami 5-3.
Group C: Rafath Habib (Rlys) bt Sparsh Pherwani 5-3; Rovin D'Souza (Rlys) bt Abhishek Soparkar (Thane) 5-2; Habib bt Soparkar 5-1; D'Souza bt Pherwani 5-4; Pherwani bt Soparkar 5-4; Habib bt D'Souza 5-2.

Group H: Ishpreet Singh Chadha bt Arun Kumar (Thane) 5-0; Malkeet Singh (Rlys) bt Ashwin Deshmukh 5-1; Chadha bt Deshmukh 5-4; Malkeet bt Kumar 5-0; Malkeet bt Chadha 5-3; Kumar bt Deshmukh 5-2.