Varsha Sanjeev enters Heyball National Championships semifinals

Varsha Sanjeev marked her return to competitive cue sports by reaching the women's semifinals of the Heyball National Championships after defeating Amee Kamani. Brijesh Damani also impressed, advancing to the men's last four with a win over Shivam Arora

Hyderabad: Despite returning to the cue sports circuit after a three-year hiatus, Varsha Sanjeev showed no signs of rust and sailed into the women’s semifinals of the second Heyball National Championships in Dehradun on Monday.

The Karnataka cueist edged out the formidable Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh in a shootout after being tied 6-6 in regulation time. Varsha, who had beaten Amee in the double-elimination round earlier in the morning, will face reigning champion Vidya Pillai of Karnataka in the last-four stage.

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Vidya, who suffered a defeat at the hands of L Shruthi earlier in the double-elimination round, overcame Anupama Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu 5-3 in the quarterfinals.

In the other semifinal, two-time junior champion Natasha Chethan will take on Shruthi. While Natasha edged out fellow Karnataka cueist Keerthana Pandian 4-3, Shruthi defeated Tamil Nadu statemate Neena Praveen 6-4.

A former National snooker champion, Varsha’s ball-striking was immaculate and her potting was spot-on for a good part of the quarterfinal against Amee. She held the lead throughout the race-to-7, 90-minute encounter. With the scores level at 6-6, Varsha potted the black twice in the shootout (similar to a penalty shootout) to emerge a deserving winner.

In the men’s section, Brijesh Damani stunned fancied Shivam Arora of Maharashtra 9-6 to storm into the semifinals. Damani will meet fellow PSPB cueist Laxman Rawat, who defeated Himanshu Jain of Telangana 7-5.

The other semifinal pits Paras Gupta of Uttar Pradesh against Divya Sharma. While Gupta overcame Abhinav Dhiman of Haryana 8-6, Sharma emerged a 9-6 winner against Kamal Chawla of RSPB.

Results: Men: Quarterfinals: Laxman Rawat (PSPB) bt Himanshu Jain (Tel) 7-5; Brijesh Damani (PSPB) bt Shivam Arora (Mah) 9-6; Paras Gupta (UP) bt Abhinav Dhiman (Har) 8-6; Divya Sharma (Har) bt Kamal Chawla (RSPB) 9-6.

Pre-quarters: Arora bt Pushpender Singh (RSPB) 9-6; Damani bt Harish Kumar (Kar) 9-3; Rawat bt Sean Davis (Kar) 8-6; Jain bt Ashutosh Padhy (Odi) 9-4; Divya bt Manan Chandra (PSPB) 9-1; Kamal bt S Shrikrishna (PSPB) 9-4; Paras bt Anmoldeep Singh (Pun) 7-6; Dhiman bt Uzair Khan (MP) 5-5 (shootout).

Women (Quarters): L Shruthi (TN) bt Neena Praveen (TN) 6-4; Natasha Chethan (Kar) bt Keerthana Pandian (Kar) 4-3; Varsha Sanjeev (Kar) bt Amee Kamani (MP) 6-6 (shootout); Vidya Pillai (Kar) bt Anupama Ramachandran (TN) 5-3.