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National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2008 - Indore
Yeshwant Club
Race Course Road - Indore - 452 003 - Madhya Pradesh
25 November 2008
Varun Kumar (TN) gives a
sizzling performance.
By I.S. Malik
If for two full days the Ladies held the center stage at the billiard hall here in the 2008 National billiards & snooker championship as the competition entered its 19th day it was the turn of the 28 year old, unassuming lad from Tamil Nadu, Varun Kumar to become the darling of the crowd with his wonderful exhibition of snooker play.
The ranked 2 player from Tamil Nadu, Varun displaying a rare ability of potting with the same ease. His ambidextrousness drew praise from none other than the critic, commentator & referee, Mr. Irfan Mirza. Having a flowing action, a smooth cue-delivery and a very positive manner this boy has no attitude but only the cut out task of potting the 22 balls well and ensuring his victory in each match which he plays. A former Class IV employee of the Southern Railway it can safely be said that his present gain in the game of snooker is the loss of his former employers.
Varun drubbed another fine player in his group, Kamal Rohmetra of Jammu and Kashmir in straight three frames by 78-40, 61-49 and 90-30 points to qualify for the knock-out round of 16 in the Seniors snooker which starts on Thursday. Although Rohmetra was not found wanting, Varun was sheer class and confidence as he swept away to a fine victory.
Kamal Chawla another young talent from Bhopal who has been knocking on the doors of snooker stardom since a couple of years now was the other hero of the day as he chalked up a flawless break of 83 missing on a blue with the pink and the black favourably placed for a century break but it was not to be. Nevertheless it was enough to fetch Chawla a straight frames win over a player of no mean class, Someshwar Rao of Andhra Pradesh beating him by 69-18, 83(83)-00 and 88-54 points to also make the knock-out round.
Veteran, Arvind Savur of Karnataka came a cropper yet again in his group on this day. He had earlier lost to Kamal Rohmetra. Savur lost to the grinding Railways player from Ahmedabad, Rupesh Shah who won the exciting match in four frames by 47-64, 94-38, 76-38 and 51-39 points. Defending Champion, Pankaj Advani in addition to his victory yesterday was again right on cue eliminating Bhadresh Panchal of Gujarat in straight frames by 106-11, 85-39 and 73-10 points to also make the grade of the last sixteen. Bhadresh also tried his best to give a fight in second frame, but fall short to give a handsome lead to Pankaj by missing opportunities at two stages.