Shah, Sitwala enter knock-out stage

Playing steadily, Aditya Mehta of Indian Oil got past Maharashtra's Vishal Madan 300-203 in a low-scoring Group-B league match of Rs 3.8 lakhs prize-money CCI Billiards Classic 2018 today.

The tall Mumbai-based Aditya, who had been playing in the pro snooker circuit in UK till last year, now has two wins under his belt.

He thus stayed on course to advancing to the knockout phase (round of 16) of the competition with a game in hand against Nikhil Ghadge.

Former World Champion Rupesh Shah, of ONGC, stamped his class to finish with an all-win record as he put it across Maharashtra's Rohan Jambusaria 278-236 in a closely-fought Group-C match.

Jambusaria finished in second place behind Rupesh and both have sealed their place in the next round.

Former two-time Asian Champion Dhruv Sitwala, of ONGC, continued with his impressive winning streak and defeated Arun Agrawal of Maharashtra to also register his third win in Group-H and confirm his place in the round of 16.

Haria of Indian Oil and seasoned cueist Ashok Shandilya of Railways both won their second round of league matches and look certain to progress to the pre-quarters.

The lanky Haria, who had beaten home challenger Hasan Badami yesterday, turned in yet another steady display. With half century breaks of 56 and 57 he managed to overcome Maharashtra's Rajeev Sharma 352-307.

Another former world champion Shandilya did not have to push hard and still came through against Delhi's Sandeep Gulati 336-298.

Results Group-A: Dhvaj Haria (IOC) beat Hasan Badami 398(95,56)-271(70); Dhvaj Haria beat Rajeev Sharma (Mah) 352(56,57)-307; Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) beat Sandeep Gulati (Del) 336-298.

Group-B: Rishabh Thakkar (Mah) beat Nikhil Ghadge (Rlys) 319(69,48)-250(44); Aditya Mehta (IOC) beat Vishal Madan (Mah) 300-203. Group-C: Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) beat V. Subramanian (Mah) 307-293; Rupesh Shah (ONGC) beat Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) 278(49,47)-236(73,61). Group-E: Manan Chandra (PSPB) beat Loukic Pathare (Mah) 456(62,61)-276(77); S Simhachalam beat Manan Chandra (BPCL) 360(71)-284. Group-F: K Venkatesh (Rlys) beat Hitesh Kotwani (Mah) 427(87,72,54)-276; Devendra Joshi (BPCL) beat Raj Khandwala (Mah) 498 (77,69,68,53)-357(63). Group-G: Rishabh Kumar (Mah) beat Nalin Patel (Mah) 370(54,64,58)-369(58,56,56). Group-H: Arun Agrawal (Mah) beat Nishant Dossa (Mah) 284(58)-270; Dhruv Sitwala (ONGC) beat Arun Agrawal (Mah) 499 (92,76,73)-220.