Easy win for fancied cueists

By M. Shamil Amit

M.A. Franklyn of the YMCA during his game. (Pic by Ranjith Perera)

The inaugural Six Red Ball Snooker Championship conducted by Moors Sports Club (MSC) in conjunction with their centenary celebrations got under way at the MSC billiards and snooker tables yesterday.

The matches played over three sessions on day one saw the fancied players recording easy wins over their opponents. However days attraction was the nine-year-old M. Abdul Rahuman who barely could peep over the table representing the BPPP. But the kid shocked his opponent Rouzan Ali when he won the first frame of the five frame round robin encounter.

He could have stretched his opponent but as mentioned before his height was a disadvantage and he missed some easy pots which paid put to his chances. Nevertheless it was encouraging to see boys of this age taking to the game which augurs well for the sport.

In the other matches played M.A. Franklyn of YMCA and Anver Azeez of QPP won their game with the minimum of fuss recording the identical score of 3-0. Only two of the matches played went the full five frames.

The six red ball championships is a new format from the usual 15 red ball snooker and is being introduced to Sri Lanka for the first time. The game is popular among the Asian countries especially in China and Thailand.

This format of the game also reduces the time of finishing a match. As normally 15 ball snooker takes nearly one hour to complete. The inaugural MSC six red ball championships had a record 111 entries. The quarter finals will be played over seven frames while the semi finals over nine and the final over 11 frames is scheduled to be played on August 19.

Results:
T.N. Saldin (YMCA) beat M.Z.M. Farhan (BPPP) 3/1 (19/32, 54/20, 49/06, 32/01). M.J.M. Ifham (Cue C) beat Robin Aniff (MICH) 3/2 (47/20, 41/14, 09/64, 27/47, 20/19). AnverAzeez (QPP) beat H.N. Thilakaratne (YMBA) 3/0 (47/17, 53/40, 33/18). M.A. Franklyn (YMCA) beat M.I. Samath (Cue C) 3/0 (52/27, 51/14, 40/17) Rouzan Ali (MICH) beat M. Abdul Rahuman (BPP) 3/1 (23/31, 54/15, 33/21, 74/31). S. Ganesh (YMBA) beat G.D. Srikantha (YMCA) 3/1 (47/33, 33/42, 41/20, 26/20). M. Muksith (MSC) beat M.M.M. Rizmi (MICH) 3/1 (16/37, 28/16, 30/15, 70/13). W. Hashim (BPPP) beat E.C.R. Senanayake (SSC) 3/1 (33/26, 34/16, 52/45, 36/27) M.N.M. Shiraz (EPP) beat M. Yaseen (MICH 3/2 (41/32, 15/59, 01/34, 29/25, 33/30). D.D.N. Chinthaka (BPPP) beat S.H.M. Rimzan (BPPP) 3/1 (12/51, 32/02, 33/24, 48/12). N.P. Siripala (Colts) beat B.M. Rameez (EPPP) 3/1 (18/39, 40/28, 31/09, 64/54). W.A.J. Jayalal (OASE) beat M.T.M. Refai (MSC). 3/0 (45/22, 43/24, 58/25). O.H. Sulaiman (MSE) beat M.R. Ozirdeen (MICH) 3/0 (33/12, 26/08, 32/15). Tony Bouran (Colts) w/o from M.N.M. Intikaab (EPP). Faizal Haniffa (MSC) w/o from Shiraz Muhilar (OAC). M.A.M. Asker(BPPP) w/o from Sajjad Mawzoom (MSC). S.M. Ibrahim (EPPP) w/o from Mohan Perera (YMBA).