Dilip Kumar off to winning start

Local boy Dilip Kumar of RSPB got off to a winning start defeating Vinod Shanmugam 4-2. Dilip played good snooker as he showed a mix of both potting and a good safety play. He got into good positions to secure the win.

Former India No 2, Lucky Vatnani of Telengana made the highest break so far of 63 and clinched his first match against MD Saif Khan 4-0. Lucky was consistent throughout his match and he capitalised on the chances he got. Harish Gandhi of Chhattisgarh made two breaks of 54 and 50 to clinch his first match against Prajwal Bisht 4-0. Dhwaj Haria of PSPB made a promising start as he defeated Naresh Kumar 4-0 in the first round.

The players from Tamil Nadu have progressed well so far. SA Saleem won his first qualifying round defeating Anil Kumar 4-2. Saleem was trailing in the beginning, but he managed to turn the game around to win the match. Multiple times billiards state champion Prem Prakash started off well as he defeated Ataur Rehman 4–0.

Runner up in this year’s Six-Red State ranking, Pranit R also registered a win in his first match defeating Mohsin Achava 4-2. R Loganathan and Damu Menon too secured their first win in the tournament.

The second round of the qualifying rounds in both the winning and the losing brackets will begin on Sunday. Players like S Shrikrishna, I H Manudev, D Rajkumar, Anuj Uppal, multiple times national champion Alok Kumar, J Varun Kumar, Dhruv Sitwala and Rupesh Shah will be in action.

Results: Dilip kumar bt Vinod Shanmugan 4-2 (11-53, 30-29, 0-40, 43-10, 7-38,10-35,); MK Udaykumar bt Md. Ali 4-0 (29-32, 8-50, 47-55, 23-40); SA Saleem bt Anilkumar H 4 - 2 (44-46, 38-24, 1-49, 40-30, 36-14, 36-16); Johnson Narsidani bt Shoiab Ul Rahman , 4 - 0 (38-0, 25-10, 48-7, 43-6); Damu Menon bt D. Rohit Kumar 4-0 (9-33, 0-42, 28-39, 20-49); Vinayak Agarwal bt Sumit Saldurkar 4-2 (40-12, 34-24, 54 (54)-6, 14-41, 2-38, 42-17); Harish Gandhi bt Prajjwal Bisht 4-0 (54-0, 40-0, 50-0, 32-0); Kreish Gurbaxani bt Vinay Kothari 4-0 (32-19, 41-23, 28-8, 34-20), Vijay Nichani bt Prakash Agarwal 4-2 (29-21, 39-10, 38-29, 28-40, 25-45, 47-12); Pranit R bt Mohsin Acchava, 4 - 2 (17-45, 6-36, 33-17, 46-80, 39-30, 16-36); Ketan Chawla bt Vidit Gowri 4-0 (40-17,36-8, 43-25, 46-0); R. Loganathan bt V. Susheel 4-0 (28-47, 25-32, 1-40, 24-35); Dhwaj Haria bt Naresh Kumar 4 - 0 (13-45, 29-37, 13-38, 3-50)