India number two, Dhruv Sitwala put to optimum advantage his vast experience and turned the tide in his favour as he stave off the spirited challenge from teenager Rayaan Razmi to clinch the top honours in the SPG-PCL Billiards Tournament 2022, played at the Shivaji Park Gymkhana billiards hall.
Strong favourite Dhruv playing with the competition’s highest handicap of -975 made every visit count as he gradually collected the points and scored a whopping 1350 points to overcome his young opponent Rayaan (handicap -675) by a close 375-309 points margin in the race-to-375 points final. Rayaan who had started with a 300 point advantage tried his best but was unable to match the brilliance of the senior pro and did well to score a total of 984 points and lost by a mere 64 points.
The Junior National billiards and snooker champion, Rayaan, who practices at the ECC and Islam Gym, was slow off the blocks, while former two-time Asian billiards champions Dhruv, who had a mountain to climb, did not take much time to get into a rhythm and from the start was on a roll and managed a couple of substantial breaks to open up a lead of almost 500 points. But, all of a sudden Dhruv seemed to have lost concentration and Rayaan seized the opportunity to get back into the match. He constructed some decent efforts and managed to bridge the gap and make it an interesting finish. As both were reaching their respective targets the scores ran close and a safety approach by both cueists came into play. Dhruv, 70 points short of crossing the finish line, like a true champion made perfect contact as he attempted to play a difficult cannon. He then continued with the break making an unfinished 71 points to complete a satisfying win.
Dhruv’s best efforts were 198, 147, 132, 86, 71, 60, 56 and 52, while Rayaan managed breaks of 113, 106, 65, 63, and 60.
For his excellent showing, Dhruv was presented with the Champions’ trophy and a cash award of Rs 45,000, while Rayaan received the runner-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs 25,000. Both the losing semi-finalists, Akshay Gogrori and Sumehr Mago took home Rs 12,500 each and the four cueists who lost in the quarter-finals, Hitesh Kotwani, Siddharth Parikh, Hasan Badami and Vishal Gehani received a sum of Rs 5,000 each.
Result – Final: Dhruv Sitwala (-975) beat Rayaan Razmi (-675) 375-309 (1350-984).