Advani crashes out; Mehta enters last 8

Snooker Nationals

Defending champion Aditya Mehta dished out another command performance to storm into the quarterfinals of the 79th National Snooker championship while four-time winner Pankaj Advani crashed out in disappointing fashion here on Thursday.

PSPB’s Mehta, who blazed into the knockout stage without dropping a frame, first drubbed Railways’ Neeraj Kumar 4-1 in the round-of-32 clash before swatting aside Sarang Shroff of Maharashtra 4-0 in the evening pre-quarterfinal encounter at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana.

However, Advani, who has been far from his best in this edition despite successfully retaining his National billiards crown last week, endured another horrible day in the office. Stretched by the unheralded Rajat Khaneja and Nikhil Ootam during the group phase, Advani showed signs of recovery when he crushed Devendra Joshi 4-0 in the round of 32. But, potting woes came to haunt him again in the evening, the 26-year-old going down 2-4 to Shahbaaz Adil Khan in the last-16 tussle.

Brijesh Damani of West Bengal eased past Tamil Nadu’s Vijay Nichani 4-1 to enter last 8.

Results: Pre-quarterfinals: Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Sarang Shroff (Mah) 4-0 (71-1, 60 (50)-49, 70-50, 78 (51)-0); Siddharth Parikh (Rly) bt Pulkit Thukral (Del) 4-1 (68-10, 54-66, 73-49, 71-40, 88-34); Himanshu Jain (AP) bt Shivam Arora (BH) 4-3 (25-69, 55-26, 82-46, 23-74, 17-63, 63-59, 64-54); Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 4-2 (75-29, 48-60, 68 (61)-37, 29-104 (65), 70-23, 83-43); Brijesh Damani (WB) bt Vijay Nichani (TN) 4-1 (71-57, 88 (60)-10, 15-63, 76-15, 78-27); Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Sourav Kothari (PSPB) 4-2  (46-60, 139 (139)-0, 74 (42)-18, 64 (42)-33, 0-74 (74), 61-47); Lucky Vatnani (AP) vs IV Rajeev (AP) 4-1 (53-50, 65 (52)-6, 39-69, 74-18, 62-50); Kamal Chawla (Rly) bt Alok Kumar (PSPB) 4-3  (66-41, 29-90 (89), 62-72, 64-62, 16-68, 56-27, 115 (98)-17). Round of 32: A Mehta bt Neeraj Kumar (Rly) 4-1 (77-33, 13-46, 80 (69)-21, 94-25, 93 (41)-24); S Shroff  bt Rafath Habib (Rly) 4-3 (18-67, 72-41, 69-25, 36-65, 58-13, 20-84, 65-49); P Thukral bt Lalrina Renthlei (Miz) 4-2 (50-82, 68 (52)-51, 100 (73)-1, 78-16, 42-56, 58-34); S Parikh bt Rupesh Shah (PSPB) 4-1 (55-45, 98 (67)-17, 25-67, 67-37, 76-36); S Arora bt Sumit Talwar (Chd) 4-3 (0-117 (60,52), 13-82, 33-81, 73-0, 67 (53)-1, 59-42, 60-52); H Jain bt R Girish (Rly) 4-1 (63-40, 67-27, 51-38, 52-68, 68-7); P Advani bt Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 4-0 (50-36, 80-39, 62-42, 76 (75)-22); SA Khan bt Divya Sharma (HR) 4-0 (76-51, 63-10, 67-47, 61-51); B Damani bt Dhvaj Haria (Guj) 4-1 (88-8, 3-66, 99-9, 59-38, 80-38); V Nichani bt Durga Prasad (Rly) 4-1 (85 (55)-2, 72-81, 54-42, 73-13, 68-15); M Chandra (PSPB) bt Rajat Khaneja (Chd) 4-0 (47-35, 73-9, 76-27, 60-10); S Kothari bt M Yogesh Kumar (Kar) 4-3 (35-51, 65 (53)-8, 48-61, 65-21, 55-73, 61-11, 84 (46)-17); IV Rajeev bt Rovin D'Souza (Mah) 4-0 (61-45, 82-8, 65-58, 83-6); L Vatnani bt Shankar Rao (AP) 4-0 (73 (52)-7, 62-51, 67-14, 48-16); Alok K bt Sunil Kumar (AP) 4-0 (64-32, 66-45, 66-17, 104-4); K Chawla vs Sundeep Gulati (Del) 4-2 (56-60, 69-30, 72 (71)-1, 15-61, 58-48, 103 (90)-1).