Khar Gymkhana’s super senior cueist S.L. Sathe, 90, produced a creditable spirited performance against Kolhapur’s Anil Kumar, 55, but went down fighting 1-4 defeat in Senior Snooker first-round match of the Khar Gymkhana presents CR Realty-Western India Billiards and Snooker Championships 2024, played at the Khar Gymkhana billiards hall on Thursday morning.
Khar Gymkhana’s 90 year-old cueist S.L. Sathe (right) produced a creditable spirited performance against Kolhapur’s 55-year-old Anil Kumar but lost1-4 in Senior Snooker first-round match.
The fit and energetic elder statesman Sathe exhibited tremendous fighting spirit and, after losing the first frame he did well to win a close second by pocketing the last three colours to snatch the frame. Later, Sathe tried his best to put up a challenge, but could not match the performance of the Kolhapur cueist and lost 21-50, 56-42, 17-73, 27-66, and 50-77 frame scores.
Meanwhile, West Bengal’s challenger Saqlain Mushtaque was in his elements and blanked Abhijeet Airen of Madhya Pradesh 4-0 coasting to a 71-26, 60-40, 51-28, and 56-7 victory and qualified for the main draw.
In interesting second round matches that went the distance, Brijesh Nanavati of Mumbai got the better of city mate Om Sawant 4-3 (13-53, 27-65, 73-65, 1-78, 54-41, 68-43, and 49-33) and in another all-Mumbai contest Rebanta Sahijwani managed to overcome Sumit Ahuja 4-3 (1-0, 66-34, 12-60, 76-54, 50-69, 46-78, and 68-29).
Results: Senior snooker – Round 3: Shashi Patel (Guj) bt Mahesh Jagdale (Mum) 4-0 (61-50, 69-35, 70-41, 64-59);
Aashit Pandya (Mum) bt Joseph Menezes (Mum) 4-1 (67-29, 67-20, 40-66, 60-34, 81-16);
Shakir Qureshi (Mum) bt Sanjiv Shah (Mum) 4-0 (72-29, 50-3, 74-15, 56-41);
Saqlain Mushtaque (WB) bt Abhijeet Airen (MP) 4-0 (71-26, 60-40, 51-28, 56-7);
Kanishk Jhanjaria (MAH) bt Sumit Naidu (MP) 4-0 (63(40)-17, 56-36, 58-38, 63-30);
Round 2: Brijesh Nanavati (Mum) bt Om Sawant (Mum) 4-3 (13-53, 27-65, 73-65, 1-78, 54-41, 68-43, 49-33);
Rebanta Sahijwani (Mum) bt Sumit Ahuja (Mum) 4-3 (1-0, 66-34, 12-60, 76-54, 50-69, 46-78, 68-29);
Kalpesh Mevada (Mum) bt Akash Asrani (Mum) 4-1 (46-11, 68-28, 58-40, 28-54, 61-50);
Ajinkya Yelve (Mum) bt Tohan Jain (Mum) 4-2 (56-34, 65-40, 62-45, 49-57, 28-55, 67-29);
Anant Mehta (Mum) bt Akshay Gogri (Mum) 4-1 (22-39, 72-16, 59-33, 57-22, 62-24);
Gaurav Chhabra (MP) bt Birju Kanani (Mum) 4-2 (40-65, 54-35, 68-30, 33-46, 56-22, 51-16);