Sethi, Joshi win in Asian Billiards c’ship

Indore: Veteran Geet Sethi and former World billiards championship runner-up Devendra Joshi got off to an impressive starts in the Asian Billiards championship, which commenced here on Sunday.

Sethi registered a facile 3-0 victory over Thailand’s Thawat Sujaritthurakarn to pocket the game (101(87)-26 101(68)-18 100(59)-69) in Group D, while Joshi quelled some late resistance from Vietnam’s Nguyen Thanh Binh 3-1 (101(58)-94 101(54)-41 45-1010 100(98)-00) in Group B at the Yashwant Club Sports Complex. Pankaj Advani will be defending his title for the third time. Other Indians participating in the category are Ashok Shandilya, Dhruv Sitwala and Rupesh Shah. In Under-21 Snooker discipline, India’s Shahbaz Khan today advanced to the quarterfinal defeating compatriot Mundir Sherazi 4-1. Shahbaz also crafted some fascinating breaks of 62 in first, 56 in fourth and 80 in fifth frame. Shahbaz will now meet Liu Chuang of China in last-eight stage.Thai player Yuttapop Pakpoj smashed first century break of the tournament playing against Wong Yun Shing of Hong Kong. Yuttapop dominated from very first frame and smashed 44 in first, 61 and 44 in second and century break of 108 in fourth frame to finish the proceedings. PTI