Varsha Sanjeev and Brijesh Damani Reach Heyball National Championship Semifinals

HYDERABAD — Karnataka's Varsha Sanjeev marked a successful return to competitive cue sports after a three-year hiatus by storming into the women's semifinals of the second Heyball National Championships in Dehradun on Monday, 6 July 2026. Meanwhile, Telangana's Himanshu Jain narrowly missed out on a semifinal spot after losing his quarterfinal match.

Varsha, a former National snooker champion, showed no signs of rust during her quarterfinal match against the formidable Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh. She held the lead throughout the race-to-7, 90-minute encounter. After the scores leveled at 6-6 in regulation time, Varsha potted the black twice in a shootout to emerge victorious. Varsha, who also defeated Kamani in the double-elimination round earlier in the day, is set to face reigning champion Vidya Pillai of Karnataka in the semifinals.

Vidya Pillai secured her semifinal spot by overcoming Anupama Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu 5-3 in the quarterfinals. Pillai had earlier suffered a defeat against L Shruthi in the double-elimination round.

The other women's semifinal will feature two-time junior champion Natasha Chethan against L Shruthi. Natasha edged out fellow Karnataka cueist Keerthana Pandian 4-3, while Shruthi defeated Tamil Nadu statemate Neena Praveen 6-4 to advance.

In the men's division, Telangana's Himanshu Jain fell short of the semifinals after a 7-5 defeat against Laxman Rawat of PSPB in the quarterfinals. Jain had earlier advanced to the final eight with a convincing 9-4 victory over Ashutosh Padhy of Odisha in the pre-quarterfinals.

Rawat will face fellow PSPB cueist Brijesh Damani in the semifinals. Damani advanced by stunning Shivam Arora of Maharashtra 9-6 in their quarterfinal clash.

The second men's semifinal will feature Paras Gupta of Uttar Pradesh against Divya Sharma of Haryana. Gupta overcame Haryana's Abhinav Dhiman 8-6, while Sharma secured a 9-6 win over Kamal Chawla of RSPB.