MHCL ‘Matka Kings’ showed good form and worked effectively as a team to record authoritative wins in their opening round of matches in the Otters-BSAM Snooker League 2018, co-supported by Z3 Zodiac Clothing and hosted by Otters Club, Bandra. The Malabar Hill Club outfit, Matka Kings brooked little opposition from IG ‘Warriors’ and comfortably won both the home and away matches by 3-0 margins in Section-N.
Manav Panchal
Matka Kings skipper Manav Panchal led by example and with excellent support from Akshat Kejriwal, they both produced steady consistent performances in winning their respective frames in both the encounters. In the home tie, Panchal (+20 handicap) tamed Abdur Rehman (+20) 77-52 in the 15-Red singles, first frame before Kejriwal (+40) managed to overcame Sahil Khan (+30) 78-63 also in the 15-Red singles, second frame. Later, Malabar Hill Club’s doubles combination of Krushank and Yash Jogani (+36) defeated Haji Usman and Adil Khan (+30) 97-77 in the 9-Red doubles tie to complete a 3-0 home victory.
In the return, away match, Matka Kings, were once again dominant and quite comfortably won the first three frames to wrap up the match. This time their doubles pair of Kunal Gandhi and Krushank (+33) got the better of Usman and Adil Khan (+30) 73-57 to give Matka Kings the lead. Later, Panchal and Kejriwal successfully won the next two frames against Rehman and Sahil respectively to seal their win and snatch a bonus point to tally five points from this win.
In another match of the same section, MIG Monks also had a good outing winning both the matches against CCI ‘Snooker Royals’ (home 3-0 and away 3-2) to also earn one bonus point and collect 5 points from their first match.
Meanwhile, Matunga Gymkhana teams encountered mixed fortunes. MG ‘A’ tasted success defeating GCH ‘Invictus’ by an identical 3-1 margins in the two fixtures in Section-K, while MG ‘B’ lost both the encounters (1-3, 2-3) against CG ‘Unpredictable’ in Section-L.
Results – Section J to P (1st week):
Section J: Dadar Club Punters vs Radio Aveengers – 3-1, 3-1.
Section K: GCH Invictus vs MG A – 1-3, 1-3.
Section L: CG Unpredictable vs MG B – 3-1, 3-2.
Section M: MIG Saints vs PJHG Rockstars – 3-2, 3-0; CCI Snooker Kings vs PCL Beach Boys – 3-2, 2-3.
Section N: MHCL Matka Kings vs IG Warriors – 3-0, 3-0; MIG Monks vs CCI Snooker Royals – 3-0, 3-2.
Section O: GST-GCH Snooker Team vs DPCG Scientists – 3-2, 3-2; MHCL Mavericks vs KG C – 3-2, 0-3.
Section P: CG Q-Force vs JVPG Jugglers – 3-1, 0-3; NSCI Gunners vs BG Phantoms 3-1, 2-3.