Karan Anand in fine touch

Fancied Dhruv Sitwala of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board went down 3-5 to M. Prabhat of KSBA in the biggest upset of the day, as the round-robin stage concluded in the BPCL- ONGC National 9-Ball Pool Championship at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Sitting pretty with two wins to his credit that had already sealed his place in the knock-out stage, commencing Thursday, Sitwala relaxed and paid the penalty as Prabhat went on to score a famous win in an exciting Group 'LL' contest.

On a day of mixed fortunes for Maharashtra's cueists, young Karan Anand of CCI, who had two wins, completed his round-robin with a convincing 5-2 victory over Ankur Nanda of Chandigarh in Group 'QQ'.

Anand's three wins in a row reflected the fine form he is enjoying in the tournament; it makes him a dark horse in the competition.

Needing a win in his third and concluding round-robin tie in Group 'NN', Derek Sippy of Maharashtra squandered a 4-2 advantage before going down to Sachin Madan of Chandigarh in a thrilling encounter.

Sippy, who had a win and a loss, was in the driver's seat and just a rack away from making it to the knock-out when he lost his way.

The inaugural ladies competition also will commence on Thursday with a round-robin that includes four groups, followed by the knock-out, where two players from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals.