Amee, Damani impress as Indians have a mixed opening day, stars have it easy

Amee Kamani and Brijesh Damani stole the limelight on a mixed day for the large Indian contingent in the first round of the $400,000 Apex Sports 3rd WPA Heyball World Championships that got underway at the Rajan Khinvasara Billiards and Snooker Academy at the Jairaj Sports & Convention Centre in Pune on Wednesday.

Amee, bronze medallist in the previous edition in Brisbane, scored a lopsided 6-2 win over Australia’s Lilly Meldrum in the women’s draw. Earlier, Damani, playing in only his second heyball event, outplayed Morocco’s Ayoub Bakhtaoui 7-3 in the men’s draw.

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Elsewhere, the big names in the field – Gareth Potts and Jack Whelan in the men’s draw and Kelly Fisher and Rebecca Kenna in the women’s – breezed past their rivals in their opening matches.

Amee on top of her game

Despite struggling a bit with the speed of the table and the throw-off from the cushion, Amee was on top of her game for the most part against Meldrum. The southpaw was solid with her potting and resorted to safety whenever she lost position, as she jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the race-to-6 affair.

Except for one dry break, Brijesh Damani succeeded in his other three opening breaks, effectively winning the racks early

Despite dropping the third rack, the 34-year-old Indian stepped on the gas to win the next three racks without much ado. She should have closed the match in the next one, but left the final black hanging over the pocket to allow the Aussie cueist to reduce the deficit.

But before much damage could be done, Amee took the next rack, doubling the final black into the top right-hand pocket to set up a second-round meeting with Taipei’s Yu-Hsuan Fan, who had outclassed India’s C Padmakshe 6-0 at the adjacent table.

Damani dominant from the start

Earlier, Damani was dominant from the start, though aided a bit by the run of the balls. Except for one dry break, he succeeded in his other three opening breaks, effectively winning the racks early. Damani next takes on Miquel Silva of Portugal next.

Two of the big names in Indian heyball — Shivam Arora and Sundeep Gulati – went down in the first round, and the duo will hope to come through the losers’ bracket (read repechage). While Shivam lost to countryman Paras Gupta 4-7, Gulati lost in a shootout to South Africa’s Anderson David after being 5-5 in regulation time (a 100-minute match).

Other notable Indian winners were Himanshu Jain, Sean Davis, Shruthi L (who defeated compatriot Vidya Pillai 4-2) and Neena Praveen, who edged out National double winner Natasha Chethan in a shootout.

Shruthi L defeated compatriot Vidya Pillai 4-2

Green baize baron Pankaj Advani, playing heyball for the first time in three years, went down 4-7 to Taipei’s Yip King Ling.

Select results (Round 1, Indians unless mentioned): Men: Gareth Potts (GBR) beat Anas Mouti (MAR) 7-3; Lee Hsien Po (Tpe) beat Kevin Zarekani Takhti (Swe) 6-2; Pushpender Singh beat Aarav Sancheti 7-6; Sean Davis beat Richard Mushobe (Zim) 7-5; Miquel Silva (Por) beat Divya Sharma 7-3; Brijesh Damani beat Ayoub Bakhtaoui (Mar) 7-3; Anderson David (RSA) beat Sundeep Gulati 5-5 (3-2 sudden death); Jack Whelan (GBR) beat Ranveer Duggal 7-2; Julian Serradilla (Sui) beat Abhinav Dhiman 7-2; Paras Gupta beat Shivam Arora 7-4; Yip King Ling (Tpe) beat Pankaj Advani 7-4; Himanshu Jain beat Nkandu Kelvin (Zam) 7-3; Burnard Blake (NZL) beat Uzair Khan 5-5 (shoot out); Jason Theron (RSA) beat Kamal Chawla 7-2; Babica Radoslaw (Pol) beat Laxman Rawat 7-4

Women: Kelly Fisher (GBR) beat Melanie Bakhtaoui-Sussenguth (Ger) 4-3; Byambasuren Sergelenbaater (Mgl) beat Gianna Rego 6-3; Rebecca Kenna (GBR) beat Robyn Nikiforos (Zim) 6-1; Ganbat Gan-Orkhon (Mgl) beat Jiya Sehgal 6-2; Yu-Hsuan Fan (Tpe) beat C Padmakshe 6-0; Amee Kamani beat Lilly Meldrum (Aus) 6-2; Shruthi L beat Vidya Pillai 4-2; Neena Praveen beat Natasha Chethan 4-4 (4-3).