Mumbai, Jan 23 (IANS): National Junior snooker champions Digvijay Kadian of Haryana exhibited impressive potting touch and constructed four substantial breaks to record an authoritative 4-0 win against Priyan Jaiswal of Madhya Pradesh in a round of 64 best-of-seven-frame match of the Rs 12.1 lakh prize-money CCI Snooker Classic 2023 here on Monday.
The 20-year-old talented cueist potted consistently to make breaks of 66, 71, 82 and 76 during his fluent 80-28, 81-1, 96-7, and 76-30 win in the event organised by the Cricket Club of India, and played at the CCI's Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall which will witness some of the top Indian cueists in action in the next few days.
Meanwhile, K. Srini of Railways caused a major upset as he stunned former junior national snooker champion Kreishh Gurbaxani of Maharashtra 4-2 (60-53, 0-92, 50-71, 79-17, 66-27, 68-43). Srinu, after losing the opening two frames and trailing 0-17 in the third, produced a stupendous break of 79 to pocket the fourth to level the frame scores at 2-all and then comfortably won the next two frames to close out the contest.
Earlier, Jaison Malhotra of Delhi dished out a spirited display as he fought back from the brink of defeat to put it across his compatriot Luv Kukreja 4-3 (1-82, 10-72, 52-41, 2-63, 52-45, 67-36, 53-21). Kukreja started on a positive note and with runs of 55 and 68 pocketed the first two frames and then won the fourth to gain a 3-1 lead. But, Malhotra staged a remarkable fight winning the remaining three frames to clinch a come-from-behind win.
In another match, E. Pandurangaiah of Railways rattled in a century break of an exact 100 points in the second frame and went on to end the fine run of Pune's Saad Sayed coasting to a 4-1 (66-59, 104-0, 29-75, 67-32, and 68-40) victory.
Results - Round of 64: E. Pandurangaiah (Rlys) bt Saad Sayed (Mah) 4-1 (66-59, 104(100)-0, 29-75, 67-32, 68-40); Sumerh Mago (Mum) bt Tahaa Khan (Mah) 4-2 (64-21, 67-68, 46-60, 61-59, 84-50, 96-37); Sandeep Gulati (Del) bt R. Santosh (Ktk) 4-0 (62-24, 77-20, 75-15, 83-34); Jaison Malhotra (Del) bt Luv Kukreja (Del) 4-3 (1-82(55), 10-72(68), 52-41, 2-63, 52-45, 67-36, 53-21); K. Srinu (Rlys) bt Kreishh Gurbaxani (Mum) 4-2 (60-53, 0-92, 50-71, 79(79)-17, 66-27, 68-43); Ketan Chawla (MP) bt Simranjeet Singh (Mum) 4-1 (57-48, 67-9, 77-15, 52-54, 62-32); Paras Gupta (UP) bt Anant Mehta (Mah) 4-0 (49-42, 70-8, 76-14, 72-37); Shivam Arora (Mah) bt Anurag Giri (MP) 4-0 (67-21, 68-63, 63-39, 93-23); Dilip Kumar ( ) bt Krish Bajaj 4-1 (54-14, 9-71(67), 62-29, 95(92)-3, 51-42); Digvijay Kadian (Har) bt Priyank Jaiswal (MP) 4-0 (80(66)-28, 81(71)-1, 96(82)-7, 76(76)-30); Shoaib Khan (Del) bt Faisal Khan (Rlys) 4-0 (48-36, 56-48, 68-9, 53-21).