Chandu Shah rallies to beat Melvin in open handicap snooker

Mumbai, Aug 2 (UNI) Chandu Shah rallied to a 2-1 win against formidable Melvin Mascarenhas to advance to the second round of the Kotak Mahindra Bank-Wilson Jones Open Handicap Billiards&Snooker Championship at the P J Hindu Gymkhana here today.

In a contest between quality cueists, Shah (+40) ignored the loss of the opening frame to romp a 86-103, 109-46, 95-66 win over the formidable Melvin Mascarenhas (+45) of Catholic Gymkhana.

On a day that saw quite few black-ball finishes, Bombay Gymkhana's Mehernosh Billimoria (+60) surprised Ramesh Bobade (+55) of Tata Sports Club 118-97, 108-95 in another first round tie.

Twice Asian champion and title favourite Yasin Merchant (scratch) kicked off his campaign with a 2-0 win over Tata Sports Club marker Ravi Kathe (+55).

India No 6 Devendra Joshi (-200), just back from the World Professional Billiards Championship in Leeds, UK, cued off the billiards competition with a fluent 200-134 win over a helpless Raj Khandelwal (+100).

Joshi's efforts included century breaks of 129 and 104 and two breaks of 40.

Results: Snooker: 1st Rd: Chandu Shah (+40) bt Melvin Mascarenhas (+45) 86-103, 109-46, 95-66; Mehernosh Billimoria (+60) bt Ramesh Bobade (+55) 118-97, 108-95; Siddharth Sogani (+60) bt Sunil Shedge (+60) 109-87, 102-105, 115-79; Mahesh Jagdale (+35) bt Kirit Raiyani (+55) 99-85, 90-116, 101-94; Rajiv Singh (+55) bt Chandra Pujary (+55) 105-103, 105-89; Chandu Kansodariya (+50) bt Viral Dadia (+60) 59-110, 97-92, 109-99; Juzer Master (+50) bt Arun Kotian (+50) 91-87, 92-77; Sameer Sanghavi (+60) bt Vinod Vora (+65) 119-84, 96-95; Viraf Bhesaria (+45) bt Jaiveer Dhingoa (+60) 103-64, 103-75; Mohan Shetty (+50) bt Sunil Jadhav (+55) 68-108, 108-86, 109-82; Yasin Merchant (scr) bt Ravi Kathe (+55) 112-60, 75-57; Jatinder Davar (+25) bt Ronak Gandhi (+60) 104-81, 107-93; Anief Haveliwala (+60) bt Bharat Vissanji (+60) 101-96, 120-80; Pradeep Singh (+45) bt Rushabh Desai (+65) 114-99, 115-85; Anil Sagar (+60) bt Neville Cardozo (+55) 127-102, 121-92.

Billiards: 1st Rd: Devendra Joshi (-200) bt Raj Khandelwal (+100) 200(40,129,40,104)-134.

UNI