Vinay Swaminathan blew hot and cold but managed to crush the aspirations of Ajinkya Yelve by six frames to three in the topsy-turvy best-of-11-frame final of the Matunga Gymkhana organized Rs 2.04 lakh 6-Red Open Snooker Tournament, conducted under the auspices of BSAM, and played at the gymkhana’s billiards hall. The tournament is being supported by Pidilite Industries Ltd, Nagee Cues and Himatlal Doshi.
Champion Vinay Swaminathan (left) and runner-up Ajinkya Yelve pose with their respective trophies.
The final was a match of fluctuating fortunes and witnessed a close contest in the opening five-frame session. Swaminathan grabbed the initiative as he compiled a break of 38 in winning the second frame as he raced to a 2-0 lead. A confident Yelve with some steady play cashed in on the openings that his way to win the next three frames in succession and go into the break with a 3-2 lead.
However, on resumption Swaminathan showed more positive intent and played his shot with better control and knocked the fight of Yelve who started to make too many mistakes and missed some simple pots. Swaminathan started the second constructing breaks of 40 and 34 to level the frames scores at 3-all. With Yelve struggling to regain his form and touch Swaminathan went on to pocket the next three frames to close out the match, clinching a 38-20, 62(38)-0, 15-43, 1-39, 3-35, 74-0, 33-26, 45-14 and 40-1 victory to emerge champion.
Earlier, in the best-of-9-frame semi-finals, Yelve blanked seasoned cueists Hitesh Kotwani 5-0 (30-17, 54-26, 49-39, 39-0 and 40-1) and Swaminathan also enjoyed an easy outing defeating Rajeev Sharma 5-1 (23-50, 43-1, 30-19, 37-32, 42-10 and 49-16).
Results – Semi-finals: Ajinkya Yelve bt Hitesh Kotwani 5-0 (30-17, 54-26, 49-39, 39(39)-0, 40-1); Vinay Swaminathan bt Rajeev Sharma 5-1 (23-50, 43-1, 30-19, 37-32, 42-10, 49-16).
Final: Vinay Swaminathan bt Ajinkya Yelve 6-3 (38-20, 62(38)-0, 15-43, 1-39, 3-35, 74(40,34)-0, 33-26, 45-14, 40-1).