The pre-quarter-finalist from pool B will be decided tomorrow as Ajay Sehgal meets Manan Nagpal in the last qualifying pool match.

Dhawan, Bhalla and Gulati joined seeded players in the main draw of 16. Alok Kumar of Gobindgarh has been given top seeded while Devinder Lilly, another national ranked player, is the second favourite when the seedings for the main draw were announced. Sidharath Anand of Delhi gets the third seed while Manish Srivastava of Chandigarh has been seeded fourth. With the national players making their appearance from tomorrow, keen competitions are expected.

Today, Manav Dhawan was in a brilliant form as he maintained his winning streak to make the last 16 grade. His opponent in the last qualifying pool D match was at the receiving end throughout the encounter. Some incredible potting foxed Saurav. Such was the dominance of Manav that his rival lost control of his cue and tension was writ large on the face of Saurav in the third frame. Manav Dhawan won 71-47, 58-20m 48-34.

Death condoled
The Chandigarh Basketball Association condoled the death of its founder member senior vice-president Daulat Ram Sharma. Payaing tribute CBA president Col Ajeet Singh Judge recalled the vaulable contribution made by Daulat Ram Sharma to promote sports, specially basketball in the Union Territory.