PSPB cueist Shahbaaz Khan scripted the biggest upset of the day when he knocked off PSPB’s Pankaj Advani 4-2 in the pre-quarterfinal round of the National Snooker and Billiards Championship at PYC Hindu Gymkhana on Thursday. The round also witnessed a record 139-point break by Manan Chandra and 20-year-old Himanshu Jain’s stunning win over Shivam Arora.
Khan won the first frame 75-39 and then maintained his splendid form. Advani’s 104-29 win with 65-point break in the fourth frame did not stop him. He won 75-29 48-60 68(61)-37 29-104(65) 70-23 83-43.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh’s Himanshu Jain stunned higher-ranked Shivam Arora of Bihar in the decider (4-3) to book his berth in the quarterfinals. The 20-year-old surprised everyone by making it to knockout round. Continuing his fine run, he outplayed Railway cueist R Girish 4-1 (63-40 67-27 51-38 52-68 68-7). In the pre-quarterfinals, he faced fancied player Shivam Arora.
The Bihar cueist started well by winning the first frame 69-25 but Himanshu quickly levelled up the scores with a 55-26 win in the second. Riding high on confidence, he pocketed the third frame 82-46.
However, it wasn’t an easy game for him as Shivam bounced back strongly and won the next two frames 74-23 and 63-17. The match was almost over for Himanshu when Shivam took a huge lead in the sixth frame. But a timely snook earned valuable points for him and even the luck favoured the Andhra cueist when Shivam missed the black twice. The frame that experienced a lot of ups and downs was sealed by Himanshu 63-59. In the decider, Shivam was leading 54-33 but then Himanshu took control and cleared the table scoring a 31-point break.
At the adjacent table, Manan Chandra lost the frame to Sourav Kothari 46-60, but came back with a table-clearing 139-point break. Later, he won the match 74(42)-18 64(42)-33 0-74(74) 61-47. He will now take on Brijesh Damani of West Bengal. Top seed Aditya Mehta (PSPB), Siddharth Parikh (RSPB), Lucky Vatanani (AP) and Kamal Chawla (RSPB) also made it to quarters.
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