Rajan Kaji defeats Jaggu

-BY A STAFF REPORTER

Kathmandu, Feb. 23: The All Nepal Carlsberg Snooker Championship, organised by Gorkha Brewery Ltd. in association with Billiards, Snooker and Pool Association of Nepal, reached towards the close of the preliminary stage as all the second round and some of the semifinals and a final concluded on Wednesday.

At Tunnel Club, Rajan Kaji won the final of the preliminary round, defeating Syed Jaggu in the gruelling five-frame battle.

Rajan Kaji, who came across Indra Lama in three frames in the semifinals early on the day took a 2-0 lead, winning with the scores of 60-46, 61-43.

But Jaggu replied back strongly in the third frame accumulating points from big breaks for 65-26. His game was even superb in the next frame and soon made it 2-2 by taking it 79-14.

Both the cueists were on their nerve’s edge as they entered the final frame and evidently it had great impact on their performance. Unlike the previous frames, big breaks were few and far between as they struggle to control their cue. Jaggu squandered a glorious opportunity to clear the table and Kaji went on to do that in 59-50 to progress through to the final stage, which will start from March 8.

Meanwhile, Suraj Singh and Prakash Shrestha at Panorama Snooker House and Biken Suwal and Saroj Mulmi at Black Stallion entered the final of the respective outlets today.

Singh beat Gum Raj Shrestha by 789-70, 59-50, 60-51, 80-49 in the best of seven frame match while Prakash Shrestha shrugged off the early hiccup against Raju Gurung to take the match 36-63, 63-31, 62-39, 74-23.

While Biken Suwal had to toil hard to overcome the stiff challenge of Prajit Shrestha, Mulmi secured his berth in the final with relative ease. Suwal, after much seesaw battle, eventually won it with the score of 53-15, 22-64, 78-22 38-56, 84-21, 4337. Mulmi had a winning score of 60-32, 90-24, 92-10, 77-32.

Other day three winners: Cosmos Solarium (pre-quarter)- Mukhiya Gurung, Pema Lama, Bishnu Rajbhandari, Shankar Thapa.

The Club, Dharan (3rd round)- Suvarna Limbu, Pramod Shakya, Ravi Thapa, Sandeep Joshi, Laxman Tamrakar, Nagendra Shrestha.

Bouddha Snooker House (2nd round) - Tashi Wangchuk, Manoj Lama, Chandan Lama, Rajan Lama.

Dragan Snooker House (2nd round) - Jaya Bdr. Thapamagar, Prakash Pradhan, Ang Temba Lama, Prajol Mainali, Daure Thapa, Ram Bhatta, Sovit Thapa.

Royal Billiard (2nd round) - Durlav Karki, Sudan Shakya, Sagar.

Everest Snooker (2nd round) - Mahesh, Pem Gurung, Raj Kumar, Samyog, Karma Ghale, Ganga, Karma, Pasang.

Snooker Maze (2nd round)- Rajendra Narayan, Roja Kumar, Saroj Shrstha, Bikash Shrestha , Sunil Dangol, Christopher, Reten Shrestha, Zamir Gonna.

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