BHOPAL, 17 March 2006 — Devendra Joshi, Dhruv Sitwala and Pankaj Advani have qualified for the Asian Billiards Championship to be held in Teheran from May 13 to 20.
The names of the trio were announced on Tuesday after the conclusion of first qualifying round tournament for the selection of Indian billiards & snooker squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2006 and the Asian Championships organized at the BHEL Senior Club here in Bhopal on the fifth day.
Seven times world billiard champion Geet Sethi finished at the top in the first selection tournament for the Doha Asian Games.
Ashok Shandilya stood at the second position while reigning world champion Pankaj Advani finished at the 3rd spot.
The Madhya Pradesh Sports and Youth Welfare Department organized the tournament-cum-selection camp in collaboration with the BHEL, Bhopal unit. For qualifying for the Asian Championship Devendra Joshi was placed first with 6563 points in the tally for the qualification of the Asian Championship. He lost two matches out of eight he played in the tournament.
The final tally was prepared on the basis of points earned by the players in the National Billiards Championship at Chennai held earlier this year and the billiards tournament played in Bhopal.
Dhruv Sitwala, the giant-killer who created a flutter in the tournament when he upset seven times world champion Geet Sethi on the first day, stood second in the tally with 5867 points including 2307 points in Chennai and 3560 in Bhopal. However, Sethi won all rest of the matches. By virtue of being the reigning world champion, Pankaj Advani got direct entry in the championship.
In the matches on the concluding day Dhruv Sitwala defeated Shyam Jagtyani 3-0 (101-31, 101-1, 101-12), B Bhaskar outcued Mohammad Ausim 3-0 (1100-74, 102-34, 101-2). Devendra Joshi prevailed over Pankaj Advani 3-2 (102-70, 102-78, 44-102, 95-101, 101-0). Sourabh Kothari defeated Mohammad Ausim 3-1 (72-100, 100-50, 101-53, 101-0), Ashok Shandilya beat Rupesh Shah 3-1 (100-2, 23-101, 104-22, 104-87). Pankaj Advani in an one-sided match defeated K Venkatesham 3-0 ( 101-22, 101-08, 100-45) and Devendra Joshi prevailed over Dhruv Sitwala 3-0 (101-22, 1001-8, 100-45). In the last game of the day Geet Sethi struggled against B Bhaskar in the beginning but bounced back to win the match 3-2 (101-48, 34-102, 62-102, 100-82, 101-02).
Chief Secretary to the Government of Madhya Pradesh Rakesh Sahani graced the formal concluding ceremony. BHEL Bhopal’s Executive Director PT Dev, M.P. Sports Director Sanjay Choudhary, Joint Director Dr. Vinod Pradhan were also present on the occasion among others.
