Khar Gymkhana’s 14-year-old Sumehr Mago showed great character and solid fighting qualities as he came to the rescue of KG ‘C’ and helped them snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against JVPG ‘Snooker Legends’ in a nerve-jingling quarter-final match of the Otters Club BSAM Mumbai Z3-Snooker League 2018, at Otters Club Billiards Room. The Khar Gym team made a shaky start and lost the first two frames to trail 0-2. But, teen sensation Sumehr, like in the previous matches of the competition once again shouldered the responsibility and churned out match-winning feats to turn things around and pilot Khar Gym to a 3-2 win and earn a place in the quarter-finals.
Khar Gymkhana’s 14-year-old Sumehr Mago played responsibly to lead KG ‘C’ to a 3-2 win against JVPG ‘Snooker Legends’ in the Otters Club BSAM Mumbai Z3-Snooker League 2018
JVPG Snooker Legends started positively as their doubles pairing of seasoned cueist Chandu Shah and Divesh Gangwani (+26 handicap) managed to narrowly overcome Khar Gym’s duo of Sahil Kakkad and Karan Rao (+30) 70-67 in the 9-red doubles, first frame. Later, Sumehr’s elder brother, Harmehr (+30), also came a cropper losing to JVPG’s Rahil Patel (+40) 61-89 in the second frame, 15-red singles.
Young Sumehr (+35) stepped in for the decisive must-win third frame, and he showed no signs of nerves. Instead he played confidently against JVPG skipper Sanjiv Shah (+40) who wrested the early advantage to lead throughout and at one juncture enjoyed a 25 points cushion. But, Sumehr managed to make a 20 plus break to close the gap and stay in the fight. With only the colours remaining Sanjiv did well to pocket the brown and blue, but missed the vital pink which would have sealed the frame in his favour and the match for his team. Sumehr, who down 73-85 and required the last two coloured balls came up with a bold attempt and sliced the pink into the centre pocket and followed it with the black in the top pocket to win a tight frame, which proved to the turning point.
In the fourth frame, Sahil Kakkad (+50) confidently got the better of Divesh Gangwani (+45) by a 104-101 margin to level scores and force the decider. In the fifth frame, Sumehr showed that his earlier win over Sanjiv was no flash in the pan as he played with authority to defeat Sanjiv by a long distance with the scores reading 101-81 and to complete a satisfying win for the Khar Gym team.
Results – Round 16: KG ‘C’ beat JVPG ‘Snooker Legends’ 3-2 (Sahil Kakkad/Karan Rao (+30) lost Chandu Shah/Divesh Gangwani (+26) 67-70, Harmehr Mago (+30) lost Rahil Patel (+40) 61-89, Sumehr Mago (+35) bt Sanjiv Shah (+40) 86-85, Sahil Kakkad (+50) bt Divesh Gangwani (+45) 104-101, Sumehr Mago (+35) bt Sanjiv Shah (+40) 101-81).