Defending champion Sourav Kothari survived a scare from local challenger Aamer Hossain before scripting a memorable 3-2 win in the senior billiards of the National Billiards & Snooker Championship at the Bengal Rowing Club today.
Indian ace Pankaj Advani on the other hand played flawless to thrash S Simhachalam (RSPB) 3-0.
Another PSPB challenger Rupesh Shah posted easy victory over compatriot Neeraj Kumar 3-0.
Results:
Group A: Sourav Kothari (PSPB) beat Aamer Hossain 3-2; Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) beat C Vijayaram (TN) 3-1; Rafath Habib (RSPB) beat S. Shankar Rao (Andhra Pradesh) 3-0; Aamer Hussain (West Bengal) beat S. Shankar Rao (Andhra Pradesh) 3-1; Rafath Habib (RSPB) beat C. Vijayaram (Tamil Nadu) 3-0; Sourav Kothari (PSPB) beat Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) 3-0.
GROUP B
Alok Kumar (PSPB) beat Ankit Kariwala (West Bengal) 3-0; Ankit Kariwala (West Bengal) beat Rakesh R. Pradhan (Orissa) 3-0; Alok Kumar (PSPB) beat Shivam Arora (Bihar) 3-0; Vishal Madan (Maharashtra) beat I.H. Manudev (Karnataka) 3-1; Alok Kumar (PSPB) beat Vishal Madan (Maharashtra) 3-2; Shivam Arora (Bihar) beat Rakesh R. Pradhan (Orissa) 3-0; I.H. Manudev (Karnataka) beat Rakesh R. Pradhan (Orissa) 3-0;
GROUP C
B. Bhaskar (Karnataka) beat Kankan Shamsi (Uttar Pradesh) 3-0; Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) beat Ketan Chawla (Madhya Pradesh) 3-0; B. Bhaskar (Karnataka) beat Aditya Agrawal (RSPB) 3-1; Himanshu Jain (Telengana) beat Ketan Chawla (Madhya Pradesh) 3-0; Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) beat Himanshu Jain (Telengana) 3-2; Aditya Agrawal (RSPB) beat Ketan Chawla (Madhya Pradesh) 3-0; GROUP D:
S. Mumtaz Ali (Jharkhand) beat Manish Jain (West Bengal) 3-1; Abhimanyu Gandhi (Gujarat) W/O Divya Sharma (Haryana); Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) beat Abhimanyu Gandhi (Gujarat) 3-0; Arun Agarwal (Maharashtra) W/O Divya Sharma (Haryana); S. Mumtaz Ali (Jharkhand) beat Abhimanyu Gandhi (Gujarat) 3-0; Manish Jain (West Bengal) beat Arun Agarwal (Maharashtra) 3-0.
