Double National champion, Rayaan Razmi, continued to enjoyed smooth sailing cruising to a third consecutive win defeating Rovin D’Souza in a Group-H league match, of the SPG-PCL Billiards Tournament 2022, and played at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana and Park Club billiards halls.
The unassuming cueist Rayaan (handicap -400), who had clinched both the Junior billiards and Junior snooker titles in the National championship in Bhopal late last year, exhibited good touch and scored points quite consistently at every visit at the table to overcome his senior opponent D’Souza (- 275) by a 58-point difference, 250-192 in the race-to-250 points match. Rayaan, who practices at the ECC and Islam Gym, compiled breaks of 101, 82, 65, 56, and 43 to take the match away from D’Souza who managed a century run of 102 and three 40 plus efforts. Rayaan with an all-win record is assured of top position in the group and a place in the pre-quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, hot favourite Dhruv Sitwala (-650), a former two-time Asian billiards champion, once again showed his class by coasting to his second win defeating the Jeet Gawade (-145) in a Group-A encounter.
The left-handed Sitwala was on a roll and constructed breaks of 133, 129, 87, 85, 67, 59, 50, as he covered his handicap and also crossed the winning line even before Gawade could overcome his handicap. Gawade was nine points short as Sitwala reached 250 points to win the Group-A match.
In another match of the same group, Amit Sapru (-220) struck good form and stitched together breaks of 69, 56, and 46 and went on to defeat Manoj Kasare (-170) 250-138.
In a Group-Ematch contested between established billiards pros, Arun Agrawal (-475) got the better of Devendra Joshi (-475) 250-138. Agrawal produced breaks of 90, 83, 52, and 49, while Joshi managed a couple of decent efforts of 75, and 71.
Another seasoned campaigner, Nalin Patel (-350) won his opening match defeating Anand Raghuvanshi (-170) 250-158 in a one-sided Group-D league match.
Results – Group-A: Amit Sapru (-220) beat Manoj Kasare (-170) 250-138;Dhruv Sitwala (-650) beat Jeet Gawade (-145) 250-(-9).
Group-B: Umesh Barwe (-145) beat Sanjeev Bijlani (-180) 250-167.
Group-C: Nikhil Ghadge (-220) beat Mahadev Bhogle (-190) 250-157.
Group-D: Nalin Patel (-350) beat Anand Raghuvanshi (-170) 250-158.
Group-E: Arun Agrawal (-475) beat Devendra Joshi (-475) 250-138.
725 (90,83,52,49,33) – 488(75,71,40)
Group-F: Hasan Badami (-240) beat Hitesh Kotwani (-375) 250-187.
Group-G: Rayaan Raznmi (-400) beat Rovin D’souza (-275) 250-192.