Karnataka’s M.S. Arun produced a sterling performance and hit the high notes as he cracked a substantial break of 95 points to breeze past Swapnil Patil of Aurangabad 3-0 in a first round match of the Rs 12.9 lakhs prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2019, organised by the Cricket Club of India at the club’s Sir Wilson Jones Billiards Room, on Saturday afternoon.
M S Arun
Arun’s brilliant effort is now the highest in the tournament which is better than the 83 points break compiled by Abhishek Bajaj.
The Bangalore cueist Arun quickly adjusted to the table and was in full flow as he hit the balls nicely and potted quite consistently to tame the Aurangabad player. Arun after taking the first frame, fell behind in the second, but he showed his class by constructing the superb 95 points effort to pocket the frame. He maintained the winning momentum and went on to win the third and wrap up the match coasting to a 67-16, 95-30 and 76-23 victory.
Earlier, Nitesh Madan of Bombay Gymkhana produced another superb performance and rolled in two notable breaks to blank Khar Gymkhana’s Harmehr Mago 3-0. Nitesh came up with a 49 break in the first frame and followed it up with neat run of 78 in winning the second frame before going on to clinch the third to complete the win and a place in the third round.
Meanwhile, Nabil Lakadawala of Otters Club, Mumbai rallied to overcome Ejaz Merchant also from Mumbai 3-1 (41-55, 75-30, 62-37, 76-31), while Pune’s Taaha Khan overcame Rushabh Gohil of Mumbai 3-1 (60-22, 56-66, 76-40, 64-48) in third round matches.
Results – First round: Shiva Sharma (Andhra Pradesh) beat Khushit Shah (Bhivandi) 3-0 (61-30, 51-45, 64-36);
Saad Sayed (Corner Pocket) beat K. Venkatesham 3-0 (62-32, 51-43, 52-44);
M.S. Arun (Karnataka) beat Swapnil Patil (Aurangabad) 3-0 (67-16, 95(95)-30, 76-23);
Raj Khandwala (CCI) beat Joseph Menezes (Otters Club) 3-1 (59-24, 61-29, 51-62, 70-37);
Dhaval Gadhvi (Corner Pocket) beat Nilesh Sagar 3-0 (62-33, 55-17, 56-54);
Hanish Sharma (Delhi) beat Rohan Kothare (Aurangabad) 3-2 (86-71, 49-59, 65-31, 39-61, 58-8);
R. Loganathan (Tamil Nadu) beat Ajinkya Yelve (NSCI) 3-1 (59-17, 36-71, 69(62)-46, 64-6);
Luv Kukreja (Delhi) beat Sahil Dhiren Shah 3-1 (59-2, 59-12, 58-66, 79-54);
Sagar Desai (NSCI) beat Luv Boricha (Dadar Club) 3-0 (56-18, 63-38, 60-29);
Mitang Soni beat Sheikh Zubair 3-1 (55-45, 30-55, 79-33, 64-37);
Nikhil Saigal (Khar Gym) W/o V. Vijay Kumar (Railways);
Tanmay Jatkar W/o Talha Chamadiya (Surat).
Second round: Nitesh Madan (Bombay Gymkhana) beat Harmehr Mago (Khar Gym) 3-0 (76(49)-17, 78(78)-7, 51-11);
Avinash Kumar (Delhi) beat Viren Sharma (Pune) 3-1 (75-37, 54-68, 67-41, 65-7);
Arun Kumar (Thane) beat Dhaval Gadhvi (Pune) 3-1 (69(42)-29, 57-49, 14-59, 58-47);
Hanish Sharma (Delhi) beat Sagar Desai (NSCI) 3-1 (73-46, 58-27, 53-56, 67-35);
Poras Shah (Matunga Gym) beat Selvel Samuel (Otters Club) 3-1 (74-50, 47-70, 60-36, 62-23);
Manoj Nandwani (Ulhasnagar) beat Vijay Nichani (Pune) 3-1 (84-39, 43-73, 44-33, 61-18);
Third round: Nabil Lakadawala (Otters Club) beat Ejaz Merchant (Bandra) 3-1 (41-55, 75-30, 62-37, 76-31);
Dhruv Sitwala (Mumbai) beat Ameya Sankhala (Mumbai) 3-1 (47-56, 66-34, 64-17, 75-12).
Taaha Khan (Pune) beat Rushabh Gohil (ECC) 3-1 (60-22, 56-66, 76-40, 64-48).