Pankaj Advani and Mannan Chandra enter knockout stage

Bangalore, Jan 29 (UNI) Defending Champion Manan Chandra and Asian Games Gold winner Pankaj Advani entered knockout stage defeating their respective opponents in the snooker group league in the 73rd Seniors National Billiards and Snooker Championship played at KSBA hall here today.

While Manan defeated J Varun Kumar of Tamil Nadu 3-0, Pankaj trounced Md Faisal Khan of Railways 3-0.

Results: Group league: Group A: Ashish Dhanda (Pun) bt Umar Farooq (JK) 3-0 (66-44, 62-45, 66-52): Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt J Varun Kumar (TN) 3-0(84-24 (58), 72-31 (39), 60-19). Group C: Brijesh Damani (WB) bt Divya Sharma (Har) 3-1 (95-07 (49), 91-13, 02-72, 59-10); Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Sandeep Gulati (Del) 3-1 (32-64, 75-00 (49), 93-25, 73-17). Group D: Rajat Khaneja (Chan) bt Nadeem Ahmed (TN) 3-1 (87-48, 71-28, 15-52, 73-52); Sarang Shroff (Mah) bt Parthiv Javeri (Guj) 3-2 (68-40, 43-61, 68-08, 42-50, 60-08). Group: E: K Someshwar Rao (AP) bt Nitin Kohli (UP) 3-1 (64-32, 77-40, 51-58, 62-21); Rafath Habib (Rlys) bt Anish Parekh (Jhar) 3-2 (62-32, 43-62, 44-56, 50-42, 63-32). Group F: Karan Anand (Mah) bt John Bosco (AP) 3-1 (75-16, 68-54, 31-66, 66-16). Group G: Shyam Jagtiani (Rlys) bt Ahsan Ul Haque (Ori) 3-0 (63-27, 69-10, 65-17); Siddharth Rao (TN) bt Parveen Rathi (Har) 3-2(30-73, 40-73, 82-22, 67-60, 100-00 (42, 39). Group H: Omar Balsara (Mah) bt Amit Saboo (Mah) 3-0 (85-41 (50), 73-29, 66-06): Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) gets walk over against Nitesh Patnaik (Ori). Group P: K Venkatesham (Rlys) bt Peter R Lalrinitluanga (Miz) 3-1 80-00 (40), 83-23, 57-22) Group B: Shahbaaz Adil Khan (WB) bt Himanshu Arora (Raj) 3-1(41-67, 63-29, 73-05, 91-06); Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Md.Faisal Khan (Rlys) 3-0 (109-07 (109), 81-07 (76), 69-65). Group O: Neeraj Khemka (WB) bt Antim Singhi (TN) 3-0 (77-44, 63-44, 65-45). Group N: Duncan Mackenzie (Kar) bt Aditya Goenka (WB) 3-0 (62-53, 76-16, 60-29).

UNI