Khar Gymkhana teenagers, Kreish Gurbaxani, Sparsh Pherwani and Harmehr Mago, all protégés of former two-time Asian Champion Yasin Merchant, displayed a lot of maturity and confidence to successfully steer KG ‘Avengers’ to a comfortable 3-0 victory against PG ‘Cues’ in a quarter-final match of the PJHG Global Ocean Group-Mumbai Snooker League (MSL) – 2015, being played at the Wilson Jones Billiards Hall at the P.J. Hindu Gymkhana, late on Tuesday evening. The MSL is being conducted by the BSAM (Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra).
Kreish Gurbaxani (centre), Sparsh Pherwani (left) and Harmehr Mago
Joining Avengers in the semi-finals were Khar Gym’s other two teams KG ‘Fanatics’ and KG ‘Italian Stallions’. While Fanatics overcame IG ‘Shockers’ 3-1, Stallions prevailed over NIA ‘Quarter-Pillars’ by a 3-1 margin, in other quarter-final ties played on the adjacent tables.
The experienced Shivam Arora (+5) set the ball rolling for Avengers when he convincingly defeated Kaizad Dandiwala (+40) 92-50 in the first frame. Thereafter, the three teens maintained the winning momentum in the next two frames to finish the best-of-5 frames match in a jiffy.
In the second frame, Khar Gym’s doubles pair of 16-year-old Sparsh and 17-year-old Harmehr (+48) combined well to score an authoritative win against the Parsi Gym duo of Sohrab Nejabat and his 11-year-old partner Rayaan Razmi (+48) by coasting to a 113-71 win.
In the third frame, Avengers captain Yasin in a bold move fielded 13-year-old Kreish to take on the seasoned Neville Razmi (+45) who was responsible for his team reaching the last 8. The young Kreish did not disappoint his skipper as he kept his cool and even after trailing throughout stayed composed before producing some steady pots towards the end sinking in the last three balls to clinch the frame 115-103 and complete win.
Results – Quarter-finals: KG ‘Fnatics’ beat IG ‘Shockers’ 3-2 (Pawan Kohli/ Nikhil Saigal (+30) lost to Haji Usman/ Abdur Rehman (+33) 55-85, Ishpreet Singh Chadha (+10) bt Hasan Badami (+10) 74-34, Deepak Khubchandani (+30) bt Sahil Khan (+25) 90-62, Ishpreet Singh Chadha (+10) lost to Abdur Rehman (+20) 54-64, Nikhil Saigal (+25) bt Hasan Badami (+10) 77-40).
Santacruz ‘Sunrisers’ beat PJHG ‘Hustlers’ 3-1 (Kalpesh Mevada/ Alpesh Dedhia (+43) lost to Shyam Kotak/ Kiriti Parikh (+50) 91-102, Pranav Desai (+40) bt Jignesh Thakkar (+45) 93-85, Vipul Shah (+40) bt Sanjay Jhaveri (+40) 98-70, Pranav Desai (+40) bt Jignesh Thakkar (+45) 95-52).
KG ‘Avengers’ beat PG ‘Cues’ 3-0 (Shivam Arora (+5) bt Kaizad Dandiwala (+40) 92-50, Sparsh Pherwani/ Harmehr Mago (+48) bt Sohrab Nejabat/ Rayaan Razmi (+48) 113-71, Kreish Gurbaxani (+50) bt Neville Razmi (+45) 115-103).
KG ‘Italian Stallions’ beat NIA ‘Quarter-Pillars’ 3-0 (Risabh Thakkar (+35) bt Divesh Gangwani (+45) 105-102, Arjun Tejwani (+45) bt Hardik Vyas (+50) 113-90, Sagar Kanjani/ Mohit Lalwani (+50) bt Manjeet Singh Bhoomer/ Rajan Gupta (+50) 104-68).