Yasin, Rovin qualify for quarter-finals

Mumbai, May 16 (UNI) Rovin D'Souza and former Asian champion Yasin Merchant sealed their quarter-final berths in the Rexello Castors-Islam Gymkhana Open Handicap&Invitation Snooker Tournament 2007 at the Islam Gymkhana here today.

Merchant completed his league ties with wins over Nagpur's Shravan Mohta and Rishabh Pandya to top Group 'A'.

D'Souza (+14) fashioned his third win in four matches to finish second in Group 'A' after getting the better of veteran Tony Monteiro 3-0 in the best-of-five frames contest.

Devendra Joshi lived dangerously to score his second win in Group 'B' when he beat Dhruv Sitvala 62-44, 56-54, 30-57, 37-60, 80-40 in a thriller, after a black-ball finish in the second frame and allowing Sitvala to come back into the match after enjoying a 2-0 lead.

Bombay Gymkhana's Kaizad Fitter kept his hopes alive when he rallied to beat Sahil Khan 3-1 in Group 'C', where Marzdi Kalyaniwala threw the group wide open after beating Kamal Chawla 3-1.

Karan Anand (+14) fired the highest break of the competition so far when he struck 88 in the second frame on his way to a 3-0 rout of Hasan Badami in Group 'B'.

Results: Group 'A': Yasin Merchant bt Shravan Mohta 63-13, 96-25, 63-42; Rovin D'Souza (+14) bt Tony Monteiro 62-48, 82-7, 72-32; Yasin Merchant bt Rishabh Pandya 69-45, 40-75(54), 95(63)-26, 79-17.

Group 'B': Sarang Shroff bt Dhruv Sitvala 58-49, 71-7, 9-75, 68-38; Karan Anand (+14) bt Hasan Badami 74-67, 102(88)-6, 80-2; Devendra Joshi bt Dhruv Sitwala 62-44, 56-54, 30-57, 37-60, 80-40.

Group 'C': Kamal Chawla bt Chirag Ramkrishnan 67-17, 27-85, 64-7, 68-16; Marzdi Kalyaniwala bt Kamal Chawla 76-36, 51-55, 56-17, 71-36; Kaizad Fitter bt Sahil Khan 61-19, 45-63, 68-27, 65-47.

UNI