Cue Sports: Amee Kamani Clinches World Heyball Bronze Medal

India’s Amee Kamani came up with a gritty effort to clinch the bronze medal at the WPA Heyball World Championships in Brisbane, Australia, on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old from Indore, who scored a shock 6-1 win over Britain’s Rebecca Kenna in the quarterfinals, however, failed to carry that momentum into the last-four stage clash against world No. 1 Shi Tianqi.

Tianqi didn’t give the left-handed Amee, who came through the ‘losers bracket’, any chance. The reigning Asian champion from China scored a lopsided 6-1 win.

Earlier, Vidya Pillai, who won the heyball gold at the inaugural Commonwealth Billiards Championships in Mauritius in July, lost 3-6 to Belgium’s Wendy Jans in the pre-quarters.

Anupama Ramachandran and Natasha Chethan, the other two Indians in the women's draw, failed to make the second stage. While Anupama lost in the fourth round, Natasha, the reigning World U-21 snooker champion, bowed out in the third round.

In the men’s section, Shivam Arora, the lone Indian to make the second stage, came up short against Iran’s Sina Valizadeh in the pre-quarters, losing 2-7.

Sundeep Gulati, the Asian champion, suffered a heartbreaking 6-7 defeat at the hands of Keen Hoo Moh of Malaysia in the fourth round.

Kamal Chawla (Round 3), Chetan Chhabra (Round 1) were the other two Indians in the men’s draw.

Results: Men: Pre-quarters: Sina Valizadeh (Irn) bt Shivam Arora (Ind) 7-2.

Women: Semis: Shi Tianqi (Chn) bt Amee Kamani (Ind) 6-1; Quarters: Amee bt Rebecca Kenna (GBR) 6-1; Pre-quarters: Amee bt Jessica Woods (Aus) 6-2; Wendy Jans (Bel) bt Vidya Pillai (Ind) 6-3.

Hussain inches closer to final stage in World Snooker

Doha (Qatar): Of the four Indians in the fray in the second event of the first stage, Hussain Khan was the lone cueist to make the pre-quarters of the IBSF World Snooker Championships here on Thursday.

Hussain scored a facile 4-2 win over Poland’s Krzysztof Czapnik in the second round. He is just a win away from qualification into the final stage of the competition. Hussain takes on Germany’s Richard Wienold later in the evening in a do-or-die match.

The other Indians in the fray, Dhvaj Haria, Maleet Singh and Paras Gupta, suffered narrow losses to bow out of the prestigious event.

Results (Indians unless mentioned): Round 2: Hussain Khan bt Krzysztof Czapnik (Pol) 4-2 (37-60, 39-51, 80-29, 53-14, 54-32, 66-18); Hesham Shawky (Egy) bt Dhvaj Haria 4-2 (19-85, 12-81, 75 (71) -0, 88-11, 69-36, 68-32); Christian Richter (Ger) bt Malkeet Singh 4-3 (67-25, 30-67, 6-70, 0-83 (83), 66-43, 66-3, 68-42); Ken Kwang Chan (Sin) bt Paras Gupta 4-2 (71-58, 60-68, 57-53, 109 (93) -1, 50-54, 77-11).