Rupesh survive in
decider; Advani zooms past Panchal
15.03.2019 - Mumbai
Rupesh Shah of ONGC
shown his class by crafted much needed break of 86 in the deciding
frame to knockout Sundeep Gulati of Delhi. They both countered each
other very well and stayed equal after six frames but in the final,
Rupesh held his nerves much better to craft the match winning break.
In another match, top-ranked Pankaj Advani of ONGC showed his class
as he constructed a magnificent 131 clearance as he went on to
record a comprehensive 4-0 win against local challenger Manav
Panchal of Mumbai. His century break in the third frame is the best
in the competition so far and has now qualified for the highest
break prize of Rs 25,000, if not supersede by any other player. The
qualifying mark was 130 and above.
He rolled in another decent run of 53 in the fourth frame to
complete a quick 78-24, 65-4, 131-0 and 73-22.
However, India No. 4 Kamal Chawla of Railways fell by the wayside as
he suffered a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Lucky Vatnani of Telangana
in another round of 64 encounter and Malkeet Singh of Railways
knocked out Sourav Kothari of ONGC 4-3.
Malkeet came up with a timely break of 60 in the decider to snatch a
deserving 83-12, 27-68, 01-86, 59-08, 01-69, 69-27 and 74)-34 win.
Meanwhile, National women champion Varsha Sanjeev of Karnataka went
down fighting to Mumbais flamboyant Vimal Mariwala losing a
seven-frame thriller by a 3-4 margin.
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