Devendra Joshi of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Sissodia of Madhya Pradesh scored contrasting wins in their respective third round matches of the Rs 12.9 lakhs prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2019 and played at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones Billiards Room.
The Mumbai-based cueist Joshi was in awesome form rattled up two half century breaks to outshine his city rival Mayank Bhavsar winning in three straight frames. Joshi after taking the first was in full flow and constructed breaks of 59 in the second and 55 in the third to complete the clean sweep to advance to the round of 64.
Earlier, Sissodia showed remarkable fight qualities as he recovered to turn the tables on Arun Kumar of Thane winning in five well-contested frames. The Madhya Pradesh cueist Sissodia by close margin lost the first two frames, but he bounced back in style by compiling a run of 64 to pocket the third which was the turning point. He comfortably won the fourth and fifth to snatch a deserving victory and make it to the fourth round.
Vimal Mariwala also dished out a strong fighting display as he came from behind to overcome Raj Khandwala 3-2 in an all-Mumbai second round clash. Mariwala trailed 0-2 but gradually came good to win the last three frames to complete a 43-74, 26-54, 64-30, 65-8 and 60-25 win.
Results – First round: Malkeet Singh (Railways) beat Sarang Shroff (Mumbai) 3-1 (2-82(55), 62-55, 67-33, 78(60)-10);
Second round: Rafath Habib (Railways) beat Sunil Jain (Mumbai) 3-0 (70-56, 64-23, 60-28);
Mohd Hussain Khan (Railways) beat Kiran Chheda 3-0 (64(33)-18. 62(45)-9, 74(47)-9);
Abhinav Dhiman beat Chintamani Jadhav (Pune) 3-0 (61-16, 56-53, 62-48);
Rishabh Thakkar (Mumbai) beat Shiva Sharma (AP) 3-0 (63-37, 63-30, 75-20);
Anuj Uppal (Delhi) beat Tanmay Jatkar 3-0 (50-37, 72-9, 85-1);
Vimal Mariwala (Mumbai) beat Raj Khandwala (Mumbai) 3-2 (43-74, 26-54, 64-30, 65-8, 60-25);
Third round: Abhishek Ahuja (Delhi) beat Manoj Nandwani (Ulhasnagar) 3-0 (53-45, 69-30, 62-49);
Bharat Sissodia (MP) beat Arun Kumar (Thane) 3-2 (40-47, 35-39, 79(64)-10, 67-19, 66-34);
Devendra Joshi (Mumbai) beat Mayank Bhavsar (Mumbai) 3-0 (66-29, 79(59)-0, 88(55)-0);