TN cueists set for Sofia challenge

It’s gala time for cueists from Tamil Nadu as four of them will feature in the IBSF World Snooker and World Masters Snooker meet in Sofia, Bulgaria in different capacities.

TN’s woman cueist Vidya Pillai has made it to the women’s team with Chitra Magimairaj (Karnataka) and Aranxta Sanchez (Maharashtra) being the other two.

The TN duo of Rafath Habib and Nadeem Ahmed qualified from selection camp to represent India in IBSF World Masters snooker meet. Brijesh Damani (Kolkata) and Kamal Chawla (Bhopal) form the men’s team.

To top it all, TN referee Kennedy has been selected along with Karnataka’s B Bhaskar to officiate in the World snooker meet making it celebration time for TN cue sports. Of course, the men and women teams were announced earlier but the Masters tournament, qualifiers for the Sofia meet, ended at the KSBA with Rafath Habib defeating Nadeem Ahmed 3-1 at 80-36; 68-04; 57-60; 65-29 in the final.

In the match for 3rd and 4th placings, L Nagaraj beat Surendran S 57-17; 61-66; 57-50; 57-28.

Results: Semis: Rafath Habib bt L Nagaraj 3-0 (56-10; 59-35; 45-36), N Ahmed bt Surendran S 3-0 (73-40; 71-22; 68-35); Quarters: Surendran S bt Kamraj H 3-2 (63-24; 63-53; 39-63; 36-61; 63-36), N Ahmed bt Raj Mohan 3-0 (62-21; 44-05; 57-16), L Nagaraj bt D Bhuvaneshwaran 3-0 (62-52; 66-05; 59-40), R Habib bt N Azeez 3-0 (72-22; 58-13; 47-18).