Sanjiv Bijlani of Park Club and Manav Panchal of Malabar Hill Club, both faced quite a challenge before they managed to record hard fought wins and advance to the second round of the Senior Billiards event of the BSAM Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-2) Championship 2018 played at the Bombay Gymkhana.
Bijalani staved off a spirited fight from Kishore Laungani of Khar Gymkhana by pulling off a 3-1 victory in the best-of-five frame race-to-100 points, first round match. In another match, Panchal in dashed the aspirations of Zahir Shroff of Bombay Gymkhana by clinching a hard-fought 3-1 win.
The Park Club cueist Bijlani immediately got into his groove and quickly won the opening frame, but he was unable to maintain the tempo and lost the second. In the next two frames, Bijlani held his nerves and managed to pocket both the frames by close margins to complete a 100-18, 69-100, 100-84 and 100-90 success.
Sparsh Pherwani of CCI easily defeated Sanjeev Agarwal of Matoshree Club 3-0 in a first round match of the BSAM Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-2) Championship 2018 .
Similarly, Panchal also took off on the right track and comfortably grabbed the opening frame before Shroff came back fighting and won a close second to level the frame scores at 1-all. Thereafter, Panchal and Shroff were engaged in a keen tussle as the scores close before the former who was more composed did well to cross the finsish line to record a 100-59, 88-100, 100-80 and 100-87 win.
Meanwhile, Sparsh Pherwani of Cricket Club of India strolled to a facile 3-0 win against Sanjeev Agarwal of Matoshree Club. The young Sparsh was steady and raced to a 100-29, 100-10 and 100-29 without much ado.
Results – Qualifying (round-1): Sparsh Pherwani (CCI) beat Sanjeev Agarwal (Matoshree) 3-0 (100-29, 100-10, 100-29);
Sanjiv Bijalani (Park Club) beat Kishore Laungani (Khar Gym) 3-1 (100-18, 69-100, 100-84, 100-90);
Manav Panchal (MHC) beat Zahir Shroff (Bombay Gym) 3-1 (100-59, 88-100, 100-80, 100-87);
Mithil Shinde (Thane) beat Mehernosh Billimoria (Bombay Gymkhana) 3-0 (100-87, 100-49, 100-73);
Anil Sagar (Matoshree) beat Umesh Marathe (Dadar Club) 3-0 (100-72, 100-68, 100-98);