Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana outfit JVPG ‘Mafia’ and North India Association’s NIA ‘Surgical Strikers’ scored contrasting victories to set up a clash in the semi-finals of the Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra organized Otters-BSAM Mumbai Snooker League 2019.
Mafia was engaged in an absorbing tussle for supremacy with Radio Club team Radio ‘Dragons’, but they did well to put up a spirited performance and managed to snatch a tight 3-2 win, while Surgical Strikers played confidently and rolled to an easy 3-0 win against Catholic Gymkhana’s CG ‘Derek Decapitare’ in quarter-final matches played at the Otters Club billiards room.
The Juhu team and the Radio Club side, both gave it their best shot and the contest went the distance. Radio Club’s youngster Rayaan Razmi came out trumps in winning both his frames against Mafia’s trump card Asutosh Padhye, in the 15-red singles first frame and fourth frame, to keep the team’s hopes alive. But, Rayaan received little support from the other members of the team, including his dad Neville Razmi, Suraj Chhabria and Anuj Mahajan and finished on the losing side.
JVPG’s Adit Raja was responsible for their success as first he combined nicely with Rahil Patel and won the 9-red doubles second frame. Raja and Patel (+24) got the better of Neville Razmi and Mahajan (+23) 58-50 to level scores before Krishna Saraf (+40) with smart tactical play defeated Suraj Chhabria (+45) 77-59 to put JVPG in the lead (2-1).
Rayaan comfortably outplayed Padhye 81-50 in winning the fourth the take the match to the fifth frame. Raja (40) showed good form and potted consistently to sideline Neville Razmi (+35) 97-67 to win the decider and confirm his team’s passage to the penultimate round.
Surgical Strikers played to their potential and capitalized on the mistakes of the CG Derek Decapitare cueist as they raced to 3-0 quick win with dropping a single frame. Divesh Gangwani (+40) showed excellent potting touch as he beat Vinod Nair (+40) 113-71 in the first singles frame to give NIA the advantage. Later, Hardik Vyas was lucky to win the second as Catholic Gymkhana’s Melwyn Mascarenhas after trailing throughout recovered to catch up. But after pocketing a difficult pink and with the black hanging at the centre pocket, he shockingly failed to make contact and handed the frame on a platter to Vyas (92-85), which provided NIA with a 2-0 advantage.
The NIA doubles combo of Rahul Chandan and Rajan Gupta complete the clean sweep as they defeated Catholic Gymkhana’s pair of Karl Vaz and Ralph Fernandes 76-50.
Results – quarter-finals: NIA Surgical Strikers beat CG Derek Decapitare 3-0 (Divesh Gangwani (+40) beat Vinod Nair (+40) 113-71; Hardik Vyas (+50) beat Melwyn Vaz (+45) 92-85; Rahul Chandan/ Rajan Gupta (+29) beat Karl Vaz/ Ralph Fernandes (+27) 76-50).
JVPG Mafia beat Radio Dragons 3-2 (Asutosh Padhye (+10) lost Rayaan Razmi (+20) 58-86; Adit Raja/ Rahil Patel (+24) beat Neville Razmi/ Anuj Mahajan (+23) 58-50; Krishna Saraf (+40) beat Suraj Chhabria (+45) 77-59; Asutosh Padhye lost Rayaan Razmi 51-80; Adit R (+40) beat Neville Razmi (+35) 97-67).