Former champion Amee Kamani and fellow Indian Keerthana Pandian kick-started their campaign in style in the women’s section of the Asian Snooker Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Monday.
Amee scored a comfortable 2-0 win over compatriot Ishika Shah in Group ‘C’. Amee took the first frame with a break of 35 and closed out the match in the next with small breaks. Keerthana too scored a straight-frame victory, edging out countrywoman Snenthra Babu in Group ‘D’.
India’s Anupama Ramachandran, the reigning IBSF World champion, suffered a 0-2 reverse at the hands of Hong Kong’s Yee Ting Cheung in a Group ‘B’ fixture.
In the men’s section, Ketan Chawla went down fighting 2-4 in the first knockout round to China’s Dong Zihao. Chawla had his chances, but failed to take them. Also, he was a trifle unlucky with the roll of the balls.
After losing the first frame, the India No. 3 could have won the second, but let slip the advantage. However, he fought back with a gritty break of 97 in the third to reduce the margin. In the fourth, with the reds scattered on the table, he missed a red pot to the top left-hand pocket. Zihao took the offering gleefully and made a frame-clinching break of 56.
Chawla made a fist of it by taking the fifth with a fine 43 that took proportions of a century. Early in the sixth, he went in-off after taking the brown to the bottom right-hand pocket to let his rival off the hook. Even after taking the last red when down 34-50, he missed the brown to allow the Chinese cueist to close out the frame and match.
Defending champion Pankaj Advani takes on Ahmed Saif of Qatar in the last-16 clash later in the evening. Laxman Rawat, the third Indian in the fray, failed to make the knockouts.
Results (Indians unless mentioned): Men: Round 1: Dong Zihao (Chn) bt Ketan Chawla 4-2 (65-22, 66-37, 0-120 (97), 66 (56) -5, 17-61, 63-34).
League: Group B: Chawla bt Abdulla Alaali (Bhn) 4-0 (82-22, 71 (65) -14, 63-5, 100 (71) -1).
Group J: Laxman Rawat bt Chau Hon Man (HK) 4-3 (41-68, 27-58, 22-63, 119 (75) -7, 62-22, 58-35, 1-0).
U-21: Aarav Sancheti bt Murtaza Noori (Afg) 3-0 (73 (50) -20, 50-12, 53-46).
Women: Group B: Yee Ting Cheung (HK) bt Anupama Ramachandran 2-0 (57-30, 53-25).
Group C: Amee Kamani bt Ishika Shah 2-0 (35-24, 49-6).
Group D: Keerthana Pandian bt Snenthra Babu 2-0 (69-46, 41-37).
