Chennai, Dec 24:
Former National champion Siddharth Rao of Tamil Nadu beat former Asian Games gold medallist Rafath Habib (RSPB) 3-0 in the round robin phase of the Masters Snooker National Championship at the Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
Defending champion Manan Chandra (PSPB) got off to a winning start, easing past Bhadresh Panchal (Guj) 3-1.
Results: Masters snooker (round robin league): Group A: Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Bhadresh Panchal (Guj) 3-1; Panchal bt Sankar Rao (AP) 3-2; Group B: J Varun Kumar (TN) bt Akram Khan (WB) 3-2; IH Manudev (Kar) bt Atit Shah (Krl); Group C: Rajat Kaneja (Har) bt P Gangadhar (AP) 3-0; V Susheel (AP) bt Anish Parika (Jkd) 3-1; Group D: D Rajkumar (Kar) bt Chirag Ramakrishnan 3-1; Group E: Subrat Das (Odi) bt Anurag Bagri (Mah) 3-2; Ashish Dhanda (Pun) bt Mohsin Achhava (Guj) 3-2; Subrat bt Achhava 3-1; Group F: Siddharth Rao (TN) bt Rafath Habib (RSPB) 3-0; Kalamuddin (Chtg) bt Modit Poddar (WB) 3-2; Group G: Sunil Jain (Mah) bt Khaleel Ferod (Tlgn) 3-0; Mahesh Jagdale (Mah) bt Kunal Jain (TN) 3-0; Group H: Mahesh Aditya (Kar) bt Manoj Dhasarathan (TN) 3-0; Dhruv Verma (Pun) bt Dhasarasthan (TN) 3-0.
