Brilliant Varsha completes golden treble in junior ranks; Sethi pulls out

Bangalore teenager Varsha Sanjeev highlighted her talent with another command display, completing a grand treble in the National billiards and snooker championship here on Monday.

Varsha, who had already pocketed the Sub-junior billiards on Saturday, added the Sub-junior and junior snooker crowns in impressive fashion.

In the Sub-junior final, she outclassed Maharashtra’s Arya Pimple 58-8, 67-4 before annexing the Junior crown with a 2-1 (26-73, 69-22, 66-41) defeat of Andhra Pradesh’s I Lahiri. Her quest for a fourth crown ended in disappointment, losing a thrilling Junior billiards final 126-132 to Delhi’s Keerat Bhandal.

Meanwhile, veteran Geet Sethi pulled out of the tournament due to personal reasons. Sethi, who kick-started the day with 3-1 win over IV Rajiv, suffered a crushing 0-3 loss against Brijesh Damani before deciding to withdraw.

Important results: Men: Billiards: Group A: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Kankan Shamshi (UP) 3-0 (102 (102)-5, 100 (61)-13, 102 (51)-34); P Advani bt Durga Prasad (RSPB) 3-0 (100 (102)-2, 100 (76)-15, 100 (100)-0); S Shroff bt Bhuvaneshwaran D 3-0 (101-77, 101-86, 101 (43)-37). Group B: B Bhaskar (Kar) Beat Dhvaj Haria (Guj) 3-0 (100 (94)-2, 100 (91)-7, 100-42).

Group C: Brijesh Damani (WB) bt IV Rajiv (AP) 3-0 (101 (48 unf)-35, 104 (56)-49, 100 (71)-82); Geet Sethi (Guj) bt IV Rajiv 3-1 (100 (53, 47)-4, 100 (41)-96 (53), 66-100 (48), 100 (48)-48); B Damani bt V Subramaniam 3-2 (102-27, 102-84, 98-102, 80-100, 102-68); B Damani bt G Sethi 3-0 (100 (100)-37, 101 (51)-42, 100 (56)-90 (51)). Group D: Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt Arun Agarwal (Mah) 3-1 (24-101, 103 (97)-17, 100 (95)-0, 100-48); Prem Prakash (TN) bt D Raj Kumar (Kar) 3-2 (100 (57)-73 (57), 33-100 (53), 100 (60)-39, 90 (84)-100 (100), 100-67).

Group E: Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Rajat Khaneja (Pun) 3-0 (100-69, 102 (102)-0, 100 (43)-21); Manish Jain (WB) bt Ashok Shandilya (RSPB) 3-2 (0-101 (101), 100-59, 100 (50)-64, 86 (40)-101 (47), 101-76). Group F: Shivam Arora (Bih) bt Sasha Sambi (Kar) 3- (97-101 (53), 100-60, 101-53, 100-59); Rupesh Shah (PSPB) bt Malkeet Singh (UP) 3-1 (88-102, 102 (79)-73, 102 (62)-5, 100 (62)-53). Group G: Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Shakeel Ahmed (WB) 3-2 (101 (64)-61, 98 (60)-100, 11-100 (100), 100-33, 101-91 (72)). Group H: Vishal Madan (Mah) bt Alok Kumar (PSPB) 3-1 (61-102 (77), 100 (98)-84, 101 (73)-62 (56), 101 (68)-8); Parthiv Jhaveri (Guj) bt Rafat Habib (RSPB) 3-2 (23-102, 100-73, 102 (50)-97, 10-101 (48), 102 (62)-58).
Girls:
Junior: Billiards, final: Keerat Bhandal (Del) bt Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) 132-126 (52). Snooker, final: Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) bt I Lahiri (AP) 2-1 (26-73, 69-22, 66-41). Sub-junior: Snooker, final: Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) bt Arya Pimple (Mah) 58-8, 67 (24)-4.