National pool tourney in Ludhiana all set for thrilling close today

The Manisha Constructions National Pool Championship saw thrilling action on Friday, its 11th and penultimate day, as the men’s 10-ball last 16 stage concluded with a mix of commanding victories and major upsets.

The women’s 10-ball competition also inched closer to its semi-final lineup.

Chetan Chhabra (Telangana) was the standout performer of the day, thrashing Dhruv Varma (Punjab) 8-1 in a one-sided encounter to storm into the quarterfinals.

The biggest upset came when Divya Sharma (Haryana) defeated Nitin Sharma (Chandigarh), nation’s current number two in 9-ball, in a nerve-wrecking clash. Divya kept composure in the decider to wrap things up with a scoreline of 8-7.

Among other results, Aayush Kumar (Punjab) defeated top seed Abhinav Dhiman 8-5 and Pushpender Singh from Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) cruised to an 8-2 win over Harshit Sharma(Madhya Pradesh). Shahbaz Adil Khan from Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) got the better of Ranveer Duggal (Chhattisgarh) 8-5 and Sumesh Jangra (Punjab) prevailed over Kushal Chandrashekhar (Karnataka) with the same margin.

Shivam Arora (Maharashtra) scripted an easy 8-3 victory and ace cueist Pankaj Advani (PSPB) continued his impressive run, beating Anurag Giri (Madhya Pradesh) 8-3.

In the women’s double elimination stage, Chitra Magimairaj (Karnataka) maintained her fine form, scripting a 5-1 run over Jiya Sehgal (Punjab). Natasha Chethan (Karnataka) made it to the next round with a win against Suniti Damani (West Bengal) 5-3. Anupama Ramachandran (Tamil Nadu) also progressed with a steady performance.

Jiya Sehgal and Ishika Shah (Madhya Pradesh) recorded key wins in earlier rounds as the race for semi-final spots intensified.

The next round will decide the final four players advancing to the semi-finals, setting up an exciting finish to the championship.