Amee Kamani, Brijesh Damani shine as Heyball World Championships begin
Amee Kamani and Brijesh Damani made winning starts at the $400,000 Apex Sports 3rd WPA Heyball World Championships. Amee beat Australia’s Lilly Meldrum 6-2, while Damani defeated Morocco’s Ayoub Bakhtaoui 7-3 on the opening day in Pune
Hyderabad: Amee Kamani and Brijesh Damani stole the limelight on a mixed day for the large Indian contingent in the first round of the $400,000 Apex Sports 3rd WPA Heyball World Championships that got underway at the Rajan Khinvasara Billiards and Snooker Academy at the Jairaj Sports & Convention Centre on Wednesday.
Amee, bronze medallist in the previous edition in Brisbane, scored a lopsided 6-2 win over Australia’s Lilly Meldrum in the women’s draw. Earlier, Damani, playing in only his second heyball event, outplayed Morocco’s Ayoub Bakhtaoui 7-3 in the men’s draw.
Elsewhere, the big names in the field – Gareth Potts and Jack Whelan in the men’s draw and Kelly Fisher and Rebecca Kenna in the women’s – breezed past their rivals in their opening matches.
Earlier, Damani was dominant from the start, though aided a bit by the run of the balls. Except for one dry break, he succeeded in his other three opening breaks, effectively winning the racks early. Damani next takes on Miquel Silva of Portugal next.
Two of the big names in Indian heyball — Shivam Arora and Sundeep Gulati – went down in the first round, and the duo will hope to come through the losers’ bracket (read repechage). While Shivam lost to countryman Paras Gupta 4-7, Gulati lost in a shootout to South Africa’s Anderson David after being 5-5 in regulation time (a 100-minute match).
Green baize baron Pankaj Advani, playing heyball for the first time in three years, went down 4-7 to Taipei’s Yip King Ling.
Select results (Round 1, Indians unless mentioned):
Men: Gareth Potts (GBR) bt Anas Mouti (MAR) 7-3; Lee Hsien Po (Tpe) bt Kevin Zarekani Takhti (Swe) 6-2; Pushpender Singh bt Aarav Sancheti 7-6; Sean Davis bt Richard Mushobe (Zim) 7-5; Miquel Silva (Por) bt Divya Sharma 7-3; Brijesh Damani bt Ayoub Bakhtaoui (Mar) 7-3; Anderson David (RSA) bt Sundeep Gulati 5-5 (3-2 sudden death); Jack Whelan (GBR) bt Ranveer Duggal 7-2; Julian Serradilla (Sui) bt Abhinav Dhiman 7-2; Paras Gupta bt Shivam Arora 7-4; Yip King Ling (Tpe) bt Pankaj Advani 7-4; Himanshu Jain bt Nkandu Kelvin (Zam) 7-3; Burnard Blake (NZL) bt Uzair Khan 5-5 (shoot out); Jason Theron (RSA) bt Kamal Chawla 7-2; Babica Radoslaw (Pol) bt Laxman Rawat 7-4
Women: Kelly Fisher (GBR) bt Melanie Bakhtaoui-Sussenguth (Ger) 4-3; Byambasuren Sergelenbaater (Mgl) bt Gianna Rego 6-3; Rebecca Kenna (GBR) bt Robyn Nikiforos (Zim) 6-1; Ganbat Gan-Orkhon (Mgl) bt Jiya Sehgal 6-2; Yu-Hsuan Fan (Tpe) bt C Padmakshe 6-0; Amee Kamani bt Lilly Meldrum (Aus) 6-2; Shruthi L bt Vidya Pillai 4-2; Neena Praveen bt Natasha Chethan 4-4 (4-3).
