India’s top women cueists continue winning streak at IBSF World Snooker Championship

Hyderabad: India’s top women cueists — Amee Kamani, Keerthana Pandian, and Natasha Chethan — maintained their winning run in their respective groups at the IBSF World Snooker Championships in Doha (Qatar) on Monday. Seasoned Amee, who dropped a frame in her opening match, scored a dominant 2-0 win over Mitra Ghaedi Bardeh of Iran for her second straight victory in Group ‘D’. The 33-year-old from Indore will take on Singapore’s Charlene Chai in her final match. Keerthana, meanwhile, outclassed Emilia Putri Rahmanda of Indonesia 2-0 for her second win in as many matches. Her final league match against Hong Kong China’s So Man Yan will decide the Group ‘B’ topper. Natasha, the reigning World U-21 champion, hardly broke a sweat in her two wins. After accounting for Iran’s Saidehsadat Sanati 2-0 in a late-night match, the 18-year-old from Bengaluru outplayed Hong Kong China’s Lau Sum Yi in straight frames. In the men’s section, Hussain Khan suffered a 2-4 defeat at the hands of Poland’s Sebastian Milewski in Group ‘L’. The Indian cueist will have to win his final league match against Alijalil Ali of Iraq to keep his hopes alive of making the knockouts. Brijesh Damani bowed out of the event with a consolation win (4-1) over Mhanaa Alobaidli of Qatar. The Indian had earlier lost both his matches in the four-player Group ‘E’. Three-time champion Pankaj Advani, with two wins under his belt, takes on Chang Yu Kiu of Hong Kong China in his final Group ‘H’ league match.