Shock defeat for Amit Verma

CHANDIGARH: Pramod Kumar displayed good safe game in senior billiards to upset fourth seed Amit Verma 2-0 in the senior billiards event of 27th Chandigarh (UT) State Saurabh Khattar Memorial Billiards and Snooker Championship at Sector 22 on Wednesday.
In a match which kept on swinging, Pramod played a break of 32 to win the first frame 100-91. The second frame was also close and Amit missed an easy shot at 91.Pramod down played few good controlled shots to finish the second frame at same score 100-91.
In the other quarterfinal match, Arif Akhtar, with Indian Oil and one of the top cueists in Chandigarh, showed skill and class to beat Satnam Singh in straight sets 2-0. Satnam started well with break of 26 in the very first visit and again 24 in the fourth visit to take a lead of 52-35. Arif got an opportunity, played a beautiful screw, placed the balls and made an unfinished break of 65, highest in the tournament so far. In the second frame, Satnam again started well and made breaks of 32 and 28 and was leading 85-60.
Arif played a good shot to make a break of 20 and then played safe.
Satnam missed and this time again Arif made an unfinished break of 25 to win 2-0. In senior snooker match, top seed Sumit Talwar was too good for Mandeep Makkar to win 3-1(73-23,74-04,60-63,67-06).
It was only in the third frame when Mandeep showed some good potting to win at black ball. Sumit was very consistent, controlled the cue ball with soft touch and came up with breaks of 34, 36 and 28. In the Sr. Billiards event also Sumit Talwar outplayed Ankit Sharma 2-1(98-100,100-27, 100-54). Sumit was in good form and made breaks of 42 and 52 in the game. He had full control of the balls from the very first shot he played. In the Sub Junior Snooker event Ankush faced resistance from Arush to win a fighting match 2-0 (56-40,68-37).
Ankush showed good temperament and controlled the balls well. All the two frames were close encounters and were won at Black ball. In the semifinal of junior snooker Prashat outclassed Aarush in straight sets 2-0(59-34, 56-40). Prashat played well and potted some difficult balls to take an initial lead which he maintained till the end.
In sub-junior snooker Ashish Nanda down in first frame managed to overcome Aayush 2-1(37-48, 58-14,76-33). The first game turned out to be interseting but the next two games were lopsided as one player dominated the proceedings right from beginning.