Promising Rahul Williams powered into the junior boys’ snooker final with a lopsided 4-0 win over fellow Tamil Nadu cueist Jabez Naveen Kumar in the National championships in Bahadurgarh, Haryana, on Wednesday.
The 14-year-old from Coimbatore will lock horns with Maharashtra’s Aarav Sancheti in the title clash later in the day. Sancheti overcame another Tamil Nadu player, Abdul Saif, 4-2 in the other semifinal. Down 1-2 in the best-of-seven-frame encounter, Sancheti quickly found his rhythm and range to overpower his rival.
Williams, who has been giving the senior pros in Tamil Nadu a run for their money in the last year or so, outplayed Karnataka’s Mayak Karthik 4-2 in the quarterfinals. Sancheti had an easier passage into the last-eight, scoring a comfortable 4-1 win over statemate Awad Basar.
Telangana’s Vaibhav in billiards’ semis
Sancheti and Williams also made it to the billiards semifinals in the sub-junior category. Karnataka’s Mohammad Mustafa and Vaibhav Chadha of Telangana too made the last-four grade. Vaibhav Chadha defeated KS Vedhaanth of Tamil Nadu 191-133 to enter the semifinals.
Results: Junior boys’ snooker (semifinals): Rahul Williams (TN) beat Jabez Naveen Kumar (TN) 4-0 (51-6, 68-38, 92-41, 49-47); Aarav Sancheti (Mah) beat A Abdul Saif (TN) 4-2 (52-53, 63-28, 45-77, 74-9, 56-36, 49-19). Quarterfinals: Saif beat Laxminarayanan (TN) 4-0 (91-33, 61-35, 71-38, 58-6); Sancheti beat Awad Basar (Mah) 4-1 (40-77, 98-0, 60-21, 84-7, 60-25); Williams beat Mayank Karthik (Kar) 4-2 (22-78, 12-67, 43-31, 66-39, 64-57, 58-45); Jabez beat Mayur Garg (RSPB) 4-3 (62-44, 69-37, 10-65, 53-37, 32-73, 50-60, 67-18).
Sub-junior billiards (quarterfinals): Aarav Sancheti (Mah) beat Jaikrishaanth Yadav (TN) 247-110; Mohammad Mustafa (Kar) beat Kabeer Shah (Guj) 195-134; Vaibhav Chadha (Tel) beat KS Vedhaanth (TN) 191-133; Rahul Williams (TN) beat R Deepakarthi (TN) 421-52.
