Ritesh Shah scores exciting win

Ritesh Shah of India registered an exciting 4-3 victory over Thailand's Arnuparp Putrakul while Latvia's Oliver Auns continued his good run in the league encounters in the Kheladi.com World under-21 snooker championship in Bangalore on Thursday.

Initially, Shah struggled to get into rhythm but later started potting well and emerged winner at 41-60, 8-81, 64-17, 80-01, 01-110, 86-22, 88-36.

Shah did not have a decent start and was down 0-2, but rallied midway. The third visit of the third frame fetched him a break of 24 and saw him back in the reckoning. He went on to crack another 40 in the next visit and won the frame 64-17 (1-2).

He then potted well and took the next frame 86-01 to level the scores 2-2. However, the Thai player snatched the fifth at 110-1 to make things interesting.

Shah's persistence and craft payed dividends as he won the sixth and the decider, 86-22 and 88-36.

The 17-year-old Latvian Auns, who created a major upset, defeating hot favourite Robert Murphy (Republic of Ireland) on Wednesday 4-3, maintained his winning spree, getting past Malaysian Khor Tat Siong 4-0 (60-37, 70-28, 65-58, 71-61).

The next to impress in the first session was Pakistan's Md.Atiq, who cleared the table in the fourth frame in just two visits and came out with a break of 25 and 75 against New Zealand's Willie Florence 4-1 (51-61, 109-05, 59-27, 100-0, 63-21).