Mumbai cueist Rovin D’Souza, earlier India junior No 3 in snooker, cracked a fine century break – (113, the highest so far) –to quell the spirited challenge of Vinayak Agrawal to advance into the third round of the “The Yasin Merchant Snooker Challenge-2022”, hosted by Khar Gymkhana in memory of their umpteen times national champion Shyam Shroff, here today.
In fact, Rovin started with a bang right from the first frame itself by notching up century break, but his rival Vinayak too was in good touch as fought back to bag the second frame, only to see Rovin clinching the next two frame to go up 3-1. But Vinyak produced his best in the fifth frame, in which he had a break of 57 to reduce Rovin’s lead of 3-2. Even the sixth frame, too, it was just touch and go before Rovin was through with a 113 [B113] – 25, 58-72, 60-16, 64-53, 25-73 (B57) – 67-54. 67-54 win.
In other interesting ties, Dhvag Haria got the better of qualifier Taaha Khan 4-2. It was Taaha, who took the first frame 59-45. However, thereafter, Haria hit back, notching up breaks of 68 and 66 in the second and third frames to floor the only surviving qualifier, who was still in the fray. Faizal Khan, who trailed 1-2, turned the tables on Vishwajeet Mohan 4-2 (47-67, 72-26, 5-80, 58-44, 59-31, 71-15).
Results : (3rd round): M.L.Laxman bt Nitesh Madan 4-2 (67-25, 55-17, 66-1, 16-58,50-8-, 56-23); Rovin D’Souza bt Vinayak Agrawal 4-2 (113 [B113] – 25, 58-72, 60-16, 64-53, 25-73 (B57) – 67-54); Md Hussain Khan bt Shayaan Razmi 4-1 (64-27,55-45, 60-57, 40-62, 67-19); Rahul Sachdev bt Amee Kamani 4-2 (50-74, 33-81,84-0, 84-43, 87-47,67-46); Faizal Khan bt Vishwajeet Mohan 4-2 (47-67, 72-26,5-80, 58-44, 59-31, 71-15); Dhvag Haria bt (Q)Taaha Khan 4-2 (45-59, 68[B64]-0, 66 [B66]-0, 25-59, 61-47, 66-2); Manan Chandra bt Khizar Raoof 4-2 (47-59, 62-4, 37-45, 49-17, 62-62-31, 79-5); Sourav Kothari bt Ranveer Singh 4-1 (71-58, 3-46, 88 [B65]-4, 53-51, 79 [79]-0).
CLOCK FOR SATURDAY – SNOOKER – 10 a.m. onwards – Main draw; Yasin Merchant Challenge 2022; Khar Gymkhana.