Omar Balsara makes light of rivals, qualifies for knock-out stage

Mumbai, Feb 24 (UNI) Local favaourite Omar Balsara, who was not in action in the 8-Ball event, made an impressive start from Group Z with two good outings to ensure a place in the knock-out stage of the ONGC-Khar Gymkhana National 9-Ball Championships here today.

Balsara scored identical 5-2 wins over Aditya Hulyal from Maharashtra and Omer Farookh of Jammu and Kashmir. From the same group Tamil Nadu's M Bhaskaran defeated Omer Farookh 5-1.

PSPB's Anuja Thakur, fresh from her triumph in the 8-Ball final yesterday, was quick to pounch on the lapse of her rival Bengal's Suniti Damani in the second rack to record a quick win from group B.

Trailing 0-1, Suniti was well on course as she had potted eight ball and needed the ninth one to take the second rack. But a lapse in her judgement saw her missing the last one and Anuja made no mistake while potting the last one. In the third Anuja hardly made any mistake to win the tie 3-0.

Results: WOMEN: Group A: Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Indira Gowda (Kar) 3-0; Vidya Pillai (TN) bt Neeta Sanghvi (Mah) 3-0; Group B: Sangeeta Hemchand (Mah) bt Bhanumati Mendon (Kar) 3-0; Group C: Anuja Thakur (PSPB) bt Suniti Damani (Ben) 3-0; Group D: Chitra M. (Kar) bt Keerat Bhandal (Del) 3-0; Heena Khandelwal (Mah) bt Neeta Kothari (Ben) 3-0.

MEN: Group B: Sandeep Gulati (Del) bt Sunil Jain 5-3; Group Z: M. Bhaskaran (TN) bt Omer Farookh (J&K) 5-1; Omar Balsara (Mah) bt Omer Farookh (J&K) 5-2k; Omar Balsaraa (Mah) bt Aditya Hulyal (Mah) 5-2; Group CC: Sarang Shroff (Mah) bt Sanjay Dung (Mah) 5-0; Group JJ: Atul Jain (Del) byt Reza Merchant (Mah) 5-1; Group HH: Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt David Rajkumar (TN)5-2; Group GG: Dharmesh Hirdani (Mah) bt Abhishek (Mah)5-2; Group II: Honey Chadda (Del) bt R. Narang (Mah) 5-3.

UNI