Tamil Nadu cueist Dilip Kumar was in excellent potting form and compiled breaks in all the five frames as he went on to overcome Anuj Uppal of Delhi by a close 3-2 (61-68, 61-70, 68-17, 101-9, 76-16) win in a phase-I quarter-final match of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) organised Rs 6.4 lakh-NSCI All India Snooker Open ‘Baulkline’ 2022 and played at the NSCI billiards hall on Saturday.
The Chennai-based Kumar produced break of 45, 48, 64, 48 and 42 while Uppal managed two efforts of 50 and 36.
In contrast Maharashtra’s Hasan Badami was in full flow and defeated Chandigarh’s Rajat Kanejia in a three quick frames, 3-0 (68-65, 72-16, and 61-20) with a degree of comfort. Badami had one decent break of 39 in the second frame.
Uttar Pradesh’s Vishwajeet Mohan also enjoyed smooth sailing cruising to a straight frame 3-0 (60-31, 68-58, and 85-80 win against Bihar’s Shivam Arora to book his place in the semi-finals.
In the fourth quarter-final encounter, Haryana cueist Digvijay Kadian warded off a late challenge from Maharashtra’s Sparsh Pherwani snatching a tight 3-2 (83-7, 62-7, 0-99, 2-75, 92-23) victory. Kadian constructed two break of 44 and 37 in the first frame, 37 in the second and 50 in the deciding fifth frame, while Pherwani made breaks of 42 and 56 in the third and 69 in the fourth.
Results – Quarter-finals: Dilip Kumar (TN) beat Anuj Uppal (DEL) 61(45)-68(50), 61(48)-70(36), 68(64)-17, 101(48)-9, 76(42)-16;
Digvijay Kadian (HAR) beat Sparsh Pherwani (MAH) 83(44,37)-7, 62(37)-7, 0-99(42,56), 2-75(69), 92(50)-23;
Vishwajeet Mohan (UP) beat Shivam Arora (BIH) 60-31, 68-58, 85-8;
Hasan Badami (MAH) beat Rajat Kanejia (CHD) 68-65, 72(39)-16, 61-20.