Naik knocks out fancied Jain in snooker; Yasin crashes in billiards

Mumbai, Aug 19 (UNI) Nilesh Naik knocked out fancied Manish Jain of West Bengal for a surprise entry in the snooker quarter-finals, in the Kotak Mahindra Bank-Wilson Jones Open Handicap Billiards&Snooker Championship, here today.

On a dramatic day of upsets, Naik (+55) of BPT Reynolds, who has been improving with every outing, registered a 105-63, 82-96, 93-89 win over Jain (+30) in a pulsating tie that went down to the wire.

Naik got off to a fluent start with an easy opening frame, but dropped the second after Jain came back to snatch it in a close finish.

Jain came up with a stronger challenge in the decider, but Naik held on brilliantly to fashion one of the biggest upsets in the competition.

Naik's contemporary at Reynolds, Avdhut Pachpute also enjoyed a rewarding day when he shocked MIG's Pradeep Singh 2-0 in another absorbing pre-quarter-final, after earlier breezing through his third round tie.

Defending champion Lucky Vatnani (+25) joined the Reynolds cueists in the quarter-finals following a 2-0 win over the formidable Farhad Tengra (+35). In a match between quality players, Vatnani warmed up for sterner tests ahead with a break of 40 in the opening frame and capped it with a 60 in the second frame.

There were upsets in billiards pre-quarter-final action as well, as CCI's Kazaan Talib (+90) stunned Yasin Merchant 200-31, while Sanjiv Bijlani of Park Club ended the winning streak of Mumbai Port Trust veteran C S Puranik (+40) with a shock 200-118 win.

Earlier, Omar Balsara (+40) of Bombay Gymkhana fired breaks of 86 and 46 to enter the pre-quarter-finals with a 200-169 win over Hitesh Kotwani (+60) of Radio Club.

Results: Snooker (Pre-Quarter Finals): Nilesh Naik (+55) bt Manish Jain (WB,+30) 105-63, 82-96, 93-89; Avdhut Pachpute (+55) bt Pradeep Singh (+45) 116-91, 102-91; Prakash Karande (+45) bt Siddharth Sogani (+55) 100-96, 105-82.

(3rd Round): Lucky Vatnani (AP,+25) bt Farhad Tengra (+35) 93(40)-44, 123(60)-36; Siddharth Sogani (+55) bt Dhruv Choksi (+55) 120-74, 99-103, 113-73; Avdhut Pachpute (+55) bt Anit Haveliwala (+55) 119-89, 120-63.

Billiards (PQF): Sanjiv Bijlani (+90) bt C S Puranik (+40) 200-118; K. Talib (+90) bt Yasin Merchant (-100) 200-31.

3rd Rd: Omar Balsara (+40) bt Hitesh Kotwani (+60) 200(86, 46)-169.

UNI