Matunga Gymkhana enthusiastic billiards player V. Subramanian (handicap -425) was in peak form and stole the thunder as he patiently constructed a stupendous 240-point break, the highest so far in the tournament, to overcome the spirited challenge from young talent Shahyan Razmi (handicap -180) by carving out a 250-227 points win in an exciting Group-H league match, of the SPG-PCL Billiards Tournament 2022, and played at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana and Park Club billiards halls.
Besides the one big effort, Subramanian, fondly known as ‘Raja’ among the cues sport fraternity, managed a couple of half-century (67, 59, and 53) runs to hold back Shahyan and clinch a satisfying win.
Home challenger Amit Sapru (-220) of Park Club played steadily and managed to prevail over strong favourite Dhruv Sitwala (-650) by a 250-175 points margin in a group-A match. Sitwala playing with a stiff handicap rolled in substantial breaks of 129,106, 96, 92, and 84, but Sapru with several useful breaks managed to keep the scoreboard ticking and went on to cross the finish line to complete his second win in the group. Both Sitwala and Sapru qualified for the pre-quarter-finals, having finished with two wins and a loss each. But Sitwala with a better points average topped the group, while Sapru was second.
Aditya Agrawal (-475) made a bright, positive start recording a convincing win against seasoned campaigner Chandresh Shah (-230) in a Group-F match. Aditya quickly settled down and constructed breaks of 115, 99, 85, 75, and 58 to take complete control against Chandresh who was below his best and failed to cover his handicap and succumbed to defeat.
Siddharth Parikh (-625) also started on a winning note defeating Sanjeev Bijlani (-180) by a convincing 250-109 points difference. The seasoned cueist Parikh compiled three sizable breaks of 114, 103 and 98 to cruise to victory.
Results – Group-A: Amit Sapru (-220) beat Dhruv Sitwala (-650) 250-175; Jeet Gawade (-145) beat Manoj Kasare (-170) 250-201.
Group-B: Siddharth Parikh (-625) beat Sanjeev Bijlani (-180) 250-109.
Group-C: Akshay Gogri (-180) beat Nikhil Ghadge (-220) 250-185.
Group-D: Anand Raghuvanshi (-170) beat Anurag Bagri (-270) 250-128.
Group-F: Aditya Agrawal (-475) beat Chandresh Shah (-230) 250-(-57).
Group-H: V. Subramanian (-425) beat Shahyan Razmi (-180) 250-227.