Chandra, Advani make solid start

India's Manav Chandra and Pankaj Advani began their campaign in the fourth Asian Under-21 snooker championship in style, registering facile victories over their group league opponents on the opening day, in Kolkata on Monday.

While Chandra displayed very good skills to spank Don Shanil Nethicumara of Sri Lanka 4-0, Advani prevailed over K P M Arif of Bangladesh 4-1.

Mudit Poddar, another Indian in the fray, was involved in a closely-contested affair with Malaysia's Mun it Thean before succumbing 3-4.

Mannav Chandra, one of the favourites to clinch the title, showed his class by recording a 99-0, 57-11, 71-5, 117-9 victory over his Sri Lankan rival. Chandra managed two brilliant breaks of 82 in the first frame and 62 in the fourth.

Advani also seemed quite comfortable as he dismissed his first round opponent with a relatively easy 44-58, 70-13, 69-7, 72-25, 95-27 victory to make a solid start in the prize-money tournament.

Strong contender Ruttanon Kematat of Thailand had to struggle a little bit before supressing Bahrain's Habib Sabah Mahmood with a 59-46, 13-54, 59-36, 61-26, 69-21, 73-24, 23-74 victory.