Sitwala and Kotak sail into last 16

International Dhruv Sitwala showed his class while beating marker Deepak Nagvekar 200-181 on his way to the pre-quarterfinals of the Rosy Blue sponsored Hindu Gymkhana-Wilson Jones All India Open handicap Billiards/Snooker championships...

International Dhruv Sitwala showed his class while beating marker Deepak Nagvekar 200-181 on his way to the pre-quarterfinals of the Rosy Blue sponsored Hindu Gymkhana-Wilson Jones All India Open handicap Billiards/Snooker championships, hosted by P.J.Hindu Gymkhana here on Friday.

Playing with minus 130 handicap, Dhruv had to total 330 points while Deepak had to score just 95. But Dhruv, who always plays with equal intensity, be it at national or local level tournament, overcome his opponent by recording a break of 150 – the highest in the tournament so far- in addtion to breaks of 41 and 46, which left Deepak awestruck floored.

Shyam Kotak, continued to display fine form as he downed Islam Gymkhana’s Hasam Badami. The 40-point margin which Shyam enjoyed over his rival, gave him a lot of confidence. He did not make any big breaks, but he steadily played and did not give his rival any chance before winning the tie 200-140.

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How unpredticable the handicap snooker can be seen by the elimination of Subhash Agarwal (+35) at the hands of a marker Bernard James (+45) , who won 105-55, 82-96,94-58. Subh ash, who was former world billiards finalist at Malta in 1983, somehow was never in his element right through the tie, though he did win the second frame..

Results: Billiartds:Ajay Agrawal (+70) bt Kaizad Fitter (+80) 200-181; Rishabh Kumar (+50) bt Prakash Rajani (+65) 200-132; Nishit Chandan (+105) bt Siddharth Parikh (+20) 200-199; Rohinton Daruwala (+105) bt Sanjay Joshi (+105) 200-182; Shyam Kotak (+90) bt Hasam Badami (+50) 200-140; Bernard James (+50) bt Chandu Kansodaria (+65) 200-174; Dhruv Sitwala (-150) bt Deepak Nagvekar (+105) 200 (46,129, 45) – 181; Hitesh Kotwani (+80) bt Nikhil Khullar (+80) 200-142.