Manudev ousts holder Shahbaz, Joshi to enter quarters

Manudev first caused the biggest surprise of the tournament by showing the exit door to last year's winner at Chandigarh, Shahbaz, 5-4 after fighting from the brink.

He was down 0-3 and was then one step away from the exit when he fashioned a brilliant come-from-behind 24-37 2-61 2-38 48-20 3-43 49-12 34-7 51-15 38-25 win over Manudev to enter the pre-quarterfinals.

After coming up with a vital break of 39 in the sixth frame against the defending champion, Manudev showed his victory was no flash in the pan by outclassing Joshi 5-2 to enter the last eight.

Among those to make the last eight were former Maharashtra junior snooker champion Rovin D'Souza, who upset Faisal Khan of Railways 5-0, and Tamil Nadu-based K Venkatesh of Railways who overcame his more fancied rival Rafath Habib, also of Railways, 5-4.

 

Trailing 2-3, Venkatesh surged to a 4-3 advantage with a crucial black ball win in the seventh frame before the seasoned Habib forced the decider only to squander it.

Women's defending champion Chitra Magimairaj of Karnataka led the favourites into the semifinals as she set up a clash with former national snooker champion Anuja Thakur-Chandra of PSPB.

National billiards champion Arantxa Sanchis of Pune will take on 8-Ball national champion Neena Praveen of Tamil Nadu in the other semifinal. (More)