JOIN USManan Chandra, Sundeep Gulati, Faisal Khan, Dharminder Lilly, Kamal Chawla and Shivam Arora made the cut for the marquee Indian Open.
On the final day of qualification here at the KSBA Hall on Wednesday, Manan Chandra completed a facile 4-2 victory over Faisal Khan 4-2 to become the first person to make grade for the pro-ranking event, due to be held in New Delhi from Oct 14-18.
At 3-2, Chandra made a decisive 50-point break to capture the sixth frame and the tie to seal qualification. All the quarterfinals finished with an identical scoreline of 4-2, with Chawla, Arora and Gulati all booking their passages with consummate ease.
Ace cueists Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta already booked their berths for the marquee event via qualifiers in Doncaster. Both of them compete play in the pro circuit.
While Dharmender Lilly and Faisal Khan lost in the quarterfinals, they gained entry after winning their match against the other two losing quarterfinalists -- Alok Kumar and Himanshu Jain.
Meanwhile Rupesh Shah, B Bhaskar, Ashok Shandilya, K Venkatesham, Dhvaj Haria and Mainsh Jain -- the six Indians taking part in the World Snooker Championships in England -- will be having a camp at the KSBA starting from Thursday.
DH News Service
Results: Quarterfinals: Kamal Chawla bt Dharminder Lilly 4-2 (86-3, 52-59, 57-9, 73-33, 37-87, 79-22); Manan Chandra bt Faisal Khan 4-2 (62-38, 38-73, 0-86, 66-55, 57-9, 63-8); Shivam Arora bt Himanshu Jain 4-2 (0-44, 31-72, 19-68, 52-38, 78-15, 71-27); Sundeep Gulati bt Alok Kumar 4-2 (24-89, 63-31, 96-20, 24-50, 74-34, 74-37).
Losing quarterfinalists: Faisal Khan bt Himanshu Jain 4-3 (59-24, 72-35, 25-68, 59-23, 62-73, 00-78, 84-33); Dharminder Lilly beat Alok Kumar 4-2 (49-11, 44-53, 52-66, 52-33, 56-28, 55-12).
Pre-quarterfinals: Dharminder Lilly beat Pushpinder Singh 4-2 (41-53, 73-46, 80-24, 34-68, 77-01, 80-24); Manan Chandra bt Lucky Vatnani 4-3 (69-39, 77-25, 44-67, 0-137, 25-61, 67-42, 57-22); Kamal Chawla bt Brijesh Damani 4-1 (69-16, 87-41, 61-79, 80-23, 46-18); Shivam Arora beat Varun Kumar 4-3 (15-102, 54-62, 2-74, 83-0, 62-38, 69-45, 75-0); Faisal Khan bt Manish Jain 4-2 (73-51, 85-14, 56-55, 9-70, 40-73, 60-33); Sundeep Gulati bt Vijay Nichani 4-0 (67-55, 78-61, 80-52, 48-47); Himanshu Jain bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan 4-1 (76-17, 55-60, 67-31, 74-41, 94-00); Alok Kumar bt Sourav Kothari 4-3 (48-88, 60-33, 62-20, 69-04, 28-84, 53-70, 68-07).
The qualifiers for Indian Open: Sundeep Gulati, Faisal Khan, Dharminder Lilly, Kamal Chawla, Manan Chandra, Shivam Arora.