World Snooker: Indian women's challenge ends

By Anand Philar, Hyderabad, Nov 22 : The last of the Indian challenge, represented by Chitra Magimairajan and Meenal Thakur, went up in smoke in the women's World Snooker championship here Sunday as both were beaten comprehensively in the quarter-finals.

Chitra, the winner of the 2008 Australian Open and runner-up this year, crashed to a 1-4 defeat against Ramona Belmont of New Zealand while Meenal, the national champion, lost 2-4 to Australia's Kathy Parashis.

Also through to the semi-finals were the promising 19-year-old from Hong Kong-China Ng On Yee who recovered from the first frame loss to beat compatriot So Man Yan 4-1 while posting a break of 57 in the third frame, and China's Bi Zhuqing who overcame Jaique Ip of Hong Kong-China 4-2.

The Bangalore-based Chitra had her chances against Belmont in each of the five frames, but was far too inconsistent with her potting and allowed her frustrations upset her flow, especially after muffing a substantial lead in the opening frame.

So much so that Chitra had little to say after the match and merely shrugged her shoulders when asked to comment on her match. "What can I say? Everything went wrong," was her brusque response.

In contrast, Belmont played a solid game and though she also tended to be inconsistent, kept her nerves in tight situations while showcasing her potting ability besides better safety play than her opponent.

On the other table, Meenal was hardly in the picture after losing the first three frames to leave herself with a mountain to climb. Though she took two frames on the trot, Parashis, who had ousted the top seed Vidya Pillai of India in the previous round, tightened her grip in the sixth that she won on the black.

"I played a rash shot on the black in the sixth when I was ahead and she took it to win the frame and match," said Meenal. "Had I potted the black, it would have become 3-3 and the pressure would have been on my opponent."

In the semi-finals, Parashis takes on Zhuqing while Belmont faces On Yee.

The results:

Women (quarter-finals): Kathy Parashis (Australia) bt Meenal Thakur (India) 4-2 (58-13, 49-40, 70-39, 46-72, 23-44, 54-42). Bi Zhuqing (China) bt Jaique Ip (Hong Kong-China) 4-2 (68-37, 69-72, 69-23, 52-44, 50-57, 44-38). Ramona Belmont (New Zealand) bt Chitra Magimairajan (India) 4-1 (90-66, 40-84, 70-32, 60-39, 75-38). Ng On Yee (Hong Kong-China) bt So Man Yan (Hong Kong-China) 4-1 (19-56, 73-50, 74-13, 56-29, 71-38).