Friday 27 July, 2007

Top seed Sachin sails into semis


B D Narayankar
PUNE: He might have helped himself into the quarterfinals of the PGI Snooker Championships, but he played the game as though he was playing for the life. This was the feeling oozing out from a confident-looking Sachin Sancheti, top-seed player, after pulverizing Jaideep Deshpande in the quarterfinal match played here on Wednesday.

Living up to his reputation, Sachin beat Jaideep 47-49, 57-29, 67-21, 72-22 easily in four frames after losing the neck-and-neck first-frame battle.

Sachin began his campaign in great style, but went down in the last stages of the frame when Jaideep got a snooker against him. “I was trying to pot the green, but my opponent got a snooker against me by fluke and I lost eight points. Jaideep then turned the tables against me, while I needed just one color to pot. I was a bit unlucky,” Sachin told Maharashtra Herald after the match.

Sachin soon was cuing for safety after losing first frame. In second, he played his game with caution and did not lose any opportunity to pot colors. He won third and fourth frames as the balls were rolling in his favour. “Jaideep made grave mistakes on which I capitalized,” he said.

With this win, Sachin booked his berth in semis and would warm up his hands against Tony D’Silva on Thursday morning.

Sachin, however, has not taken D’Silva lightly. “He is a good senior player. I respect his game,” he told on the eve of the semifinal match. These words, nonetheless, must not mesmerize snooker-lovers. They know it well that Sachin had an upper hand against D’Silva as he had forced a couple of defeats over the latter in league matches. “I beat him with 80-points margin,” Sachin said.

In another match, Rahul Padhyay beat Satish Karad 5-62, 47-39, 75-46, 27-56, 64-46 and Tony D’Silva trounced Bhushan Sahne 60-37, 58-12, 61-19 in straight frames. With these wins, both also have stormed into semifinals of the tournament.

RESULTS: Sachin Sancheti bt Jaideep Deshpande 47-49, 57-29, 67-21, 72-22; Rahul Padhyay bt Satish Karad 5-62, 47-39, 75-46, 27-56, 64-46; Tony D’Silva bt Bhushan Sahne 60-37, 58-12, 61-19


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