Geet edges out Rajkumar

Geet had to play out of his skin to beat the youngster 101-31, 100-27, 36-100, 47-101, 100-04 and remain unbeaten in his group. Geet started in earnest, wrapping up the first two games but Rajkumar came into his own to win the third and fourth to take the eight-time World Champion to the decider, in which the veteran cueist rode on his experience to come out clean.

Meanwhile in other group matches, Uttar Pradesh’s Nitin Kohli recorded an impressive victory over Deepak Rupani of Andhra 80-103, 101-33, 102-34, 101-59. Veteran player Ahsan-ul-Haque of Orissa beat Tamil Nadu’s M C Manoj 101-37, 101-44, 102-97. Dhwaj Haria of Gujarat had to bring out his best to thwart Pushpinder Singh’s challenge 101-18, 11-100, 102-67, 67-100, 100-91, while Dhruv Sitwala of PSPB defeated Mundir Sherazi of Karnataka 100-64, 97-100, 100-16, 101-53. Rafath Habib of the Railways put paid to the hopes of UPyoungster Malkit Singh, beating him 101-02, 102-55, 101-43.