World No. 1 Whelan routs Bhalla; Theron outclasses Chahal  

World No.1 Jack Whelan and No.4 Jason Theron and other top cueists had an easy outing on the second day of the Joy Heyball International Open in Chandigarh on Monday.

Great Britain’s Whelan, who won the North American Heyball Open in October, was too good for India’s Sameer Bhalla. The Britisher scored a lopsided 5-0 win in double quick time. He had the motley crowd in awe with his amazing potting.

South African Theron wasn’t far behind, showcasing his skills in his 5-0 annihilation of another Indian Chandan Chahal.

Leading Indian cueist Shivam Arora was made to struggle before scoring a gritty 5-2 win over the formidable Laxman Rawat.

In a minor upset late on Sunday, Sumit Talwar edged out National runner-up Kamal Chawla 4-3. Chawla, a former IBSF World 6-red snooker champion, is still not out of the reckoning as he has a chance to come through the losers’ bracket.

Select results (Round 2, Indians unless mentioned): Jack Whelan (GBR) bt Sameer Bhalla 5-0; Jason Theron (RSA) bt Chandan Chahal 5-0; Shivam Arora bt Laxman Rawat 5-2; Bhupinder Singh Mago bt Toku Mado 5-0; Promod Kumar bt Anupama Ramachandran 3-3 (Black ball shootout). Sean Davis bt Kashish Sindhani 5-1; Manan Chandra bt Kelvin Alfanso 5-0; Tasso Tai bt David Rajan 3-3 (Black ball shootout); Lalrina Renthlei bt Rajeev Juneja 5-4; PB Liansangzuala bt Gagandeep 5-1; Sumit Talwar bt Kamal Chawla 4-3.