The second leg of the BSAM Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection Championship 2018 will commence at the Bombay Gymkhana billiards room from Monday, November 12. Rishabh Thakkar of Otters Club and Sparsh Pherwani of Cricket Club of India, the first leg billiards and snooker champions respectively, are the firm favourites as they would aim to repeat their winning performances and once again emerge successful.
Rishabh Thakkar (R) and Sparsh Pherwani (L)the first leg billiards and snooker champions respectively, are the favourites to win the second leg of the BSAM Maharashtra State Senior Selection Championship 2018.
A total of 144 cueists (104 snooker and 40 billiards players) from Mumbai, Pune and other districts of Maharashtra would be competing to become the state champions. The tournaments form the basis to identify the players who will earn the right to represent Maharashtra in the National Championships to be played in Madhya Pradesh early next year.
In the first leg which was played in Pune in September, Thakkar defeated 16-year-old youngster Kreishh Gurbaxani in the billiards final. In the snooker final, another young talent Pherwani had defeated Thakkar, denying him from winning a double.
A total of 32 players will contest the qualifying round in the billiards event which will be played from November 12 to 18. Eight players will qualify for the main draw and will join eight players who are directly seeded in the tournament proper, basis on the first leg. The 16 players would be divided into four groups and the top two from each group will make it to the quarter-finals.
There will be 88 players in the snooker qualifying draw, which start from November 19. Former two-time Asian snooker champ Yasin Merchant and Nikhil Ootam will be fighting it out for the 16 places up for grabs to make it into the main draw. They qualifiers will be grouped with 16 seeded players who have been given direct entry into the main draw. The 32 players will be drawn into eight groups and the top team from each group will qualify for the knockout phase starting with the pre-quarter-finals.
The eight billiards players who are directly seeded in the main draw on the basis of the first leg, include Rishabh Thakkar (Otters), Kreishh Gurbaxani (Khar Gym), Vishal Madan (Chembur Gym), Rishabh Kumar (Garware Club House), Vignesh Sanghvi (Pune), Vishal Gehani (Park Club), Carl Serrao (Dadar Club) and Hitesh Kotwani (Hindu Gym).
The snooker players who are have been given direct entry to the main draw include, Sparsh Pherwani (CCI), Rishabh Thakkar (Otters), Mukund Bharadia (CCI), Vignesh Sanghvi (Pune), Viren Sharma (Pune), Kreishh Gurbaxani (Khar Gym), Manav Panchal (Malabar Hill Club), Abhimanyu Gandhi (Otters), Anand Raghuvanshi (Hindu Gym), Pankaj Khatri (Nashik), Raajeev Sharma (Malabar Hill Club), Shivam Arora (Khar Gym), Mayank Bhavsar (KVSC) and Cherag Ramakrishnan (CCI). The two other players will be confirmed later.