Easy for Manan, Alok and Lilly

Defending champion Manan Chandra and last year's runners-up Alok Kumar, both of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), started their campaign on a bright note with convincing victories in the BPCL-ONGC National 9-Ball Pool Championship, which began in Mumbai on Saturday.

Chandra defeated Ravish Surti of Gujarat 4-2 in Group A, while Kumar pipped Satyen Chhabria of Maharashtra 5-1 in Group B preliminary round-robin action at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in suburban Chembur.

Third seed Dharmender Lilly of Punjab trounced Vishnu Kedia of Maharashtra 5-2 in Group C while number four K Ranjan of Tamil Nadu blanked Azad Khan of UP 5-0 to complete a good day for the fancied players.

A total of 176 men and 18 women are competing for top honours in the Rs 1.4 lakh prize money championship.