Sitwala, Haria enter CCI Billiards quarter-finals

Mumbai, Mar 30 (PTI) National champion Dhruv Sitwala and Dhvaj Haria scored convincing victories to sail into the quarter-finals of the All India CCI Billiards Classic here on Saturday.

Sitwala, the left-handed India No. 1, got the better of seasoned pro Arun Agrawal 979-399, while Haria defeated last year's runner-up Rob Hall of England 1055-425.

The Mumbai-based Sitwala produced a single sizeable break of 296 and had smaller runs of 60, 62, 76, 71 and 94 on way to his win against Agrawal, while Haria constructed a high break of 399 against his pre-quarterfinal opponent.

The Gujarat-based Haria had two more century efforts of 159 and 131 and a couple of breaks of 85, 55 and 53. Hall, who was down with a stomach bug, could only muster breaks of 65, 80 and 94.

Strong favourite and reigning champion Pankaj Advani continued to rule as he outclassed Aditya Agrawal 1236-428 to move closer to the defense of his title.

World champion Advani started with a neat break of 258 and then constructed a solid 365 to knock the fight out of Aditya. Advani had two more centuries of 111 and 197 and breaks of 72, 66 and 77 to run away with the match. Aditya had breaks of 103, 89 and 71.

In another last-16 match between two former National champions Sourav Kothari and S. Shrikrishna, the latter came up with a last-ditch effort, rolling in an unfinished break of 78 points, to snatch a come-from-behind 492-473 victory and a place in the quarter-finals.

Shrikrishna had earlier made a 151 break while Kothari’s best was 96 and 92.

England's ace billiards player David Causier was all charged up as he demolished India's Kamal Chawla 1422-306 in another pre-quarterfinal contest.

Causier, a nine-time world champion, played at a rapid pace and gave an excellent exhibition of precision play and consistency as he constructed a sequence of massive breaks of 249, 220, 354, 124, 99, 94, 62 and 74. Chawla had just two big efforts of 51 and 56.

Mumbai youngster Raayan Razmi played with plenty of resilience to stun former champion Siddharth Parikh by a close 606-519 margin in another last-16 match.

Results (Pre-quarter-finals): David Causier (Eng) beat Kamal Chawla (Ind) 1422-306; S. Shrikrishna (Ind) beat Sourav Kothari (Ind) 492-473; Raayan Razmi (Ind) beat Siddharth Parikh (Ind) 606-519; Dhvaj Haria (Ind) beat Rob Hall (Eng) 1055-425; Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) beat Arun Agrawal (Ind) 979-399; Peter Gilchrist (Sin) beat Rohan Jambusaria (Ind) 900-493; Peter Sheehan (Eng) bt Rupesh Shah (Ind) 738-583; Pankaj Advani (Ind) beat Aditya Agrawal (Ind) 1236-428. PTI AM AM UNG