Doha Games snooker, billiards final selection trials from Sep 9

Mumbai, Sep 6 (UNI) Big time snooker and billiards returns to Goregaon Sports Club with the 4th and final selection trials for 2006 Asian Games at Doha, Qatar, scheduled here from September 9-11.

National selector Subhash Agrawal said the top three -- Ashok Shandilya, Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi -- are sure of their positions in the billiards team. Shandilya, runner-up at Bhopal, won at Indore and Nagpur and has 45 points with Pankaj on 36 and Geet Sethi on 31.

In case Pankaj opts for snooker, there will be a play-off between Devendra Joshi and B Bhaskar for the vacant third spot. Following this the No 4 (Joshi or Bhaskar) and the player next in rank, possibly Dhruv Sitwala will be in line for Carambole Camp for the pocketless billiards event.

In snooker, Pankaj Advani and Yasin Merchant are sure of the top two places. No 3 Manan Chandra has to watch out for Rupesh Shah and Rafath Habib both with 24 points.

The camp winner gets 16 points, the No 2 logs 13 and the No 3 garners 10 points.

In the ladies section, Anuja Thakur leads in both the 9 Ball and 8 Ball Pool. The recent Arjuna awardee has indicated her preference for 8 Ball Pool.

Positions after three camps and points in brackets: Billiards: 1. Ashok Shandilya (45), 2. Pankaj Advani (36), 3. Geet Sethi (31).

The pruned billiards players are as follows: 4. Devendra Joshi (21), 5. B. Bhaskar (21), 6. Dhruv Sitwala (20), 7. Sourav Kothari (16), 8. Shyam Jagtiani (10), 9. K. Venkatesh.

Snooker: 1. Pankaj Advani (51), 2. Yasin Merchant (45), 3. Manan Chandra (39), 4. Rupesh Shah (24), 5. Rafath Habib (24), 6. Aditya Mehta (21), 7. Ashok Shandilya (19), 8. Alok Kumar (17). Pruned Player: Neeraj Kumar (10).

Women: 9 Ball Pool: 1. Anuja Thakur, 2. M Chitra, 3. Meenal Thakur, 4.

Vidya Pillai.

8 Ball Pool: 1. Anuja Thakur, 2. M Chitra, 3. Vidya Pillai, 4. R Umadevi.

UNI GS MAZ AY KN1802