Hareshwar Betwanshi showed tremendous resilience to stave off a spirited challenge from D.S. Suriya snatching a 2-1 victory in an all-Indian first round match of the Maharashtra Carrom Association (MCA) organized Rs seven lakh prize-money LIC-Maharashtra Open Carrom Challenger’s Trophy 2023-2024, at the Bharat Scouts & Guides Hall, Shivaji Park, Dadar on Wednesday afternoon.
Hareshwar Betwanshi showed tremendous resilience to stave off a spirited challenge from D.S. Suriya in a first round match.
In other matches, Sri Lanka’s Charith Madhushanka marched ahead by comfortably defeating India’s Mehboob Khan 19-12, 25-1 in another first round match. Later, Charith’s compatriot Manuka Ashen after making a promising started faded away and went down fighting against India’s Rajesh Goddam in three sets at 25-7, 10-12, and 8-16.
Maharashtra’s Betwanshi started hesitantly against his Tamil Nadu opponent Suriya and won only two of the six boards in losing the first set. Betwanshi found his touch in the second set and won three boards with substantial points to win the set and force the fifth set. The decider was a close affair, with Betwanshi winning a big second board to take a commanding 15-0 lead. But the Tamil Nadu player fought back by winning the next three to draw level at 15-all. Betwanshi held his nerves in the tense deciding set which he narrowly won to clinch a 7-20, 21-7 and 17-15 victory to advance to the second round.
India’s Malang Raila got the better of countryman Vijay Achrekar 24-5, 25-9 and in an all-Indian affair V. Jayaraman of Tamil Nadu defeated Sk. Sahil of Telengana 21-8, 21-16;
Results – Round-1: Charith Madhushanka (SRI) bt Mehboob Khan (IND) 19-12, 25-1; Rajesh Goddam (IND) bt Manuka Ashen (SRI) 7-25, 12-10, 16-8; Malang Raila (IND) bt Vijay Achrekar (IND) 24-5, 25-9; V. Jayaraman (IND) bt Sk. Sahil (IND) 21-8, 21-16; Nilansh Chiplunkar (IND) bt Chandrashekar Malvade (IND) 25-4, 16-17, 25-9; Azeem Quresh (IND) bt Santosh Ghevafekar (IND) 25-16, 25-4; Hareshwar Betwanshi (IND) bt D.S. Suriya (IND) 7-20, 21-7, 17-15; Arshad Shaikh (IND) bt Pratham Mehta (IND) 18-17, 13-10; Sabir Shaikh (IND) bt Suresh (IND) 25-10, 8-23, 25-6; Jafar Shaikh (IND) bt Omkar Tilak (IND) 3-16, 20-4, 25-7.