Striking a rich vein of form Hindu Gymkhana’s Sidharth Parikh convincingly won both his last two (90-minute round-robin) Group ‘B’ league matches of the Rs 2 lakh prize-money P.J. Hindu Gymkhana Invitation Billiards Tournament 2016, and played at the Hindu Gyamkhana billiards hall. The current World No. 3, Parikh, showed great control and knocked in a double century break of 212, 3 century breaks (138, 137 and 101) to outclass Phiroze Patel of CCI by a commanding 848-66 margin. He later continued with his fine efforts and created 3 centuries (120, 102, 101) and other notable breaks of 76, 73 and 57 to score over Farhad Tengra of Elphinstone CC by a 692-201scoreline.
Siddharth Parikh
Parikh, who had won the Bronze medal at the World Championship in Adelaide last September, has now won all his three matches and finished at the top of Group ‘B’ to qualify for the knockout (pre-quarter-final) round. He had earlier defeated Kirit Raiyaani (PJHG) 466-236.
Meanwhile, Asian Billiards Champion, Dhruv Sitwala, also from Hindu Gymkhana continued with his mesmerizing performance and with the assistance of four fantastic 100 plus breaks looked unstoppable against veteran and former World Billiards runner-up Subhash Agrawal in a Group ‘A’ league tie. The left-handed Parikh created breaks of 183, 147, 114 and 100 for an easy 709-135 win, which was his 4th win in the group and was placed at the top.
Former World Billiards champ, Ashok Shandilya (RLY) continued with his easy winning run by recording his third win by defeating Vishal Gehani (PCL) 658-162 to finish in the top position in Group ‘D’ league. Shandilya compiled breaks of 116, 91, 77, 63, 60 and 54.
Meanwhile in Group ‘E’, V. Subramanian (MG) also maintained his brilliant winning form with another terrific effort as he tamed Vishal Madan (CG) 500-228. Subramanian had breaks of 76, 68, 65, 63 and 56 during his 4th successive win to clinch the first place in the group.
Results – Group ‘A’: Dhruv Sitwala (PJHG) bt Subhash Agrawal (PJHG) 709(183,147,114,100)-135.
Group ‘B’: Siddharth Parikh (PJHG) bt Phiroze Patel (CCI) 848(212,138,137,101,71,69)-66; Siddharth Parikh (PJHG) bt Farhad Tengra (ECC) 692(120,102,101,76,73,57)-201.
Group ‘C’: Jaiveer Dhingra (PJHG) bt Manav Panchal (MHC) 593(107, 75,71,60,51)-200; Amit Sapru (PCL) bt Manav Panchal (MHC) 399(73)-313; Jaiveer Dhingra (PJHG) bt Chandu Kansodaria (MCF) 480(132,103 ,64)-188.
Group ‘D’: Ashok Shandilya (RLY) bt Vishal Gehani (PCL) 658(116,91,77,63,60,54)-162 .
Group ‘E’: V. Subramanian (MG) bt Vishal Madan (CG) 500(76,68,65,63,56)-228.
Group ‘F’: Hitesh Kotwani (PJHG) bt Nikhil Ghadge (MG) 534(85,84)-204; Rohan Jambusaria (MCF) bt Lalit Jham (PCL) 470(81,54)-183.
Group ‘G’: Abhishek Joshi (PJHG) bt Rovin D’Souza (PJHG) 361-282; Arun Agrawal (MG) bt Shekhar Surve (SPG) 388(90)-304(54,57).
Group ‘H’: Vignesh Sanghvi (Pune) bt Mehrenosh Billimoria (BG) 340(51)-200; Aditya Agrawal (PJHG) bt Vignesh Sanghvi (Pune) 616(128,108, 92)-250.