No luck for Vatnani as Advani sails through

Karnataka’s IH Manudev bowed out of the tournament with his pre-quarterfinal loss against seasoned pro Geet Sethi.

Balaji Reddy, who posted a surprise win against fancied Rupesh Shah in the round of 32 on Thursday, lost out to Sourav Kothari 4-2 (3-79, 83-22, 74-23, 58-64, 71-8, 75-59).

Manan Chandra of PSPB had it easy against Delhi’s Sundeep Gulati 4-1 (62-54, 36-77, 88-32, 77-29) to enter the pre-quarterfinals while teammate Shahbaz Khan went down to Kamal Chawla of the Railways 4-2 (28-97, 67-33, 79-12, 39-85, 82-0, 86-11).

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Uma Devi posted a comfortable win over Maharashtra’s Nita Sanghvi 59-28, 62-13 in the pre-quarterfinals of the Senior womens snooker event.
Indira Hegde showed fine skill in her 55-19, 71-26 win over Neha Sanghvi of Maharashtra.

Arantxa Sanchez of Delhi advanced to the next round as she beat last year's finalist Chitra Magimairaj of Karnataka 46-30, 44-41.

Anuja Chandra, the 2005 World Ladies billiards champion, notched up a straight frames victory over Heena Khandelwal of Maharashtra to reach the pre-quarterfinal round.

Results (pre-quarterfinals): Men: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Lucky Vatnani (AP) 4-2 (67-45, 72-28, 67-17, 11-70, 61-71, 71-0); Geet Sethi (Guj) bt IH Manudev (Kar) 4-2 (57-12, 48-73, 15-67, 70-42, 79-17, 83-1); Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) 4-1 (99-12, 46-71, 72-66, 64-7, 77-29); Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Balaji Reddy (Kar) 4-2 (3-79, 83-22, 74-23, 58-64, 71-8, 75-59); Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Sundeep Gulati (Del) 4-1 (62-54, 36-77, 88-32, 77-29); Kamal Chawla (Rly) bt Shahbaz Khan (PSPB) 4-2 (28-97, 67-33, 79-12, 39-85, 82-0, 86-11); Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt R Girish (Rly) 4-1 (99-21, 75-22, 87-37, 0-102, 70-10).
Women: Keerath Bhandaal (Del) bt Neeta Kothari (WB) 80-42, 52-38; Uma Devi (Kar) bt Nita Sanghvi (Mah) 59-28, 62-13; Indira Hegde (Kar) bt Neha Sanghvi (Mah) 55-19, 71-26; Asha (TN) bt Varsha Sanjeev Kumar (Kar) 63-4, 68-49; Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Renu Barkatiya (MP) 71-5, 81-16; Neeta Kothari (WB) bt Shilpa Shanthappa (Kar) 43-24, 47-20; Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) bt Keerat Bhandaal (Del) 61-47, 49-35; Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) 68-11, 49-48l; Meenal Thakur (Mah) bt Indira Hegde (Kar) 77-3, 71-14.