Third Master’s National Snooker Championship 2019: Anuj Uppal and Rafat Habib register wins in semi-finals

Anuj Uppal of Delhi halted the fine run of Gujarat’s legendary cueist Geet Sethi by snatching a 4-3 victory in a nail-biting semi-final of the MIG Cricket Club organized third Master’s National Snooker Championship – 2019, and played at the MIG Club billiards hall on Wednesday. The event is being organised under the aegis of BSFI and BSAM.

The 42-year-old Uppal maintained a calm composure and managed to overcome the versatile 58-year-old Sethi in an absorbing tussle which went on for close to four hours. The highly experienced Sethi tried all the tricks in the bag but he could not unnerve the Delhi cueist who managed to come out every sticky situation and pot steadily to clinch a 78-43, 76-34, 03-76, 38-63, 61-17, 02-67 and 89-11 verdict in his favour.

On an adjacent table, Rafat Habib of Railways continued with his fine winning run of form to record a convincing 4-0 win against Maharashtra’s Cherag Ramakrishnan in the other semi-final.

The bearded Habib, the former Asian Games gold medalist, was fortunate to win the first frame as Ramakrishnan who was leading 58-47 missed a simple pink. Habib grabbed the reprieve and potted the last two colours to snatch the frame. Thereafter, Habib was in complete control as Ramakrishnan was unable to recover from that miss and the loss of the frame. The Tamil Nadu-based Habib closed out the match coasting to a 60-58, 71-28, 55-26 and 49-22 victory.

Earlier in the day, Habib sent defending champion Alok Kumar of ONGC crashing out by recording a stunning 4-2 victory. The Railway cueist was steady and compiled a break of 61 in third as he cruised to 31-59, 64-27, 66-19, 49-55, 63-29 and 60-17 victory.

Ramakrishnan enjoyed a good run against his statemate and arch-rival Sarang Shroff and went on to carve out a 4-2 victory in another last-eight match.

Meanwhile, Sethi and Uppal scored contrasting wins in their quarter-finals encounters. The former National snooker champion Sethi maintained the winning momentum and eased past Karnataka’s D. Rajkumar posting a 4-1 victory.

On the side table, Uppal got the better of ONGC’s Dhruv Sitwala 4-3 in a match that went to the wire.

Results (Semi-finals):

Anuj Uppal (DEL) beat Geet Sethi (GUJ) 4-3 (78(63)-43, 76-34, 03-76(60), 38-63, 61-17, 02-67, 89-11).

Rafat Habib (RLYS) beat Cherag Ramakrishnan (MH) 4-0 (60-58, 71-28, 55-26, 49-22)