Central Railway Mechanical Institute team CRMI ‘Star Blue’ caused a major upset as they stunned Chembur Gymkhana’s fancied outfit CG ‘Gladiators’ by coasting to a 3-1 victory in a round of 32 match of the Billiards & Snooker of Maharashtra organized Otters-BSAM Mumbai Snooker League 2019.
Meanwhile, P.J. Hindu Gymkhana’s team PJHG ‘Action Jackson’ came from 0-2 behind to pull off a remarkable 3-2 win against MIG Monks in an absorbing encounter.
Chembur Gymkhana’s Gladiators who had qualified for the knockouts with an all-win record having won all the six matches in Section-B, started with a flourish by taking a 1-0 lead. Aditya Agrawal (+20 handicap) defeated Central Railway’s Nikhil Ghadge (+30) 76-69 in the first frame to provide the Chembur team with a perfect start.
But, the Central Railway cueists showed loads of confidence and played with plenty of determination to win the subsequent three frames to emerge worthy winners and book a place in the pre-quarter-finals. First the Central Railway doubles combination of Chandrashekhar Singh and skipper Joe Thomas (+32) got the better of Gladiators pair of Vimal Thakkar and Vishal Madan (+23) 96-86 in the second frame to level the match scores at 1-all.
Later, the experienced Umesh Barwe (+50) was cool and composed as he overcame the talented Loukic Pathare (+25) 100-57 in winning the third frame and giving Central a 2-1 lead. Central maintained the winning momentum as Chandrashekhar (+55) put up a gutsy display to knock the fight out of the accomplished Aditya Agrawal (+20) by breezing to a 102-63 victory in the fourth and complete Central Railway success and a passage to the next round.
The Monks got off to a promising start as Anuj Soni (+50) defeated Hindu Gymkhana’s Aditya Shandilya (+50) 96-65 in winning the first frame. In the second, Soham Sawant (+50) maintained Monks winning run as he tamed Jignesh Thakkar (+50) 111-85 to provide Monks a solid 2-0 advantage.
But, Hindu Gymkhana team were not prepared to give up without putting up a fight and their doubles pairing of Uday Shah and Variksh Mehta (+33) halted the slide as they defeated the MIG duo of Gurav Prabhu and Prabdeep Singh (+21) 77-23 to cut the deficit 1-2.
That win proved to be the perfect tonic for the Hindu Gymkhana cueists as Jignesh Thakkar and Aditya Shandilya, who were tentative initially and lost the earlier the first two frames, started to play more aggressively and went for their pots which helped them to win the last two frames and the match. In the fourth frame, Jignesh prevailed over Anuj Soni 112-87 and in the deciding fifth, Aditya Shandilya tamed Prabdeep Singh (+30) winning 103-56 to clinch a satisfying win for his team and advance to the last 16.
Results – round of 32: PJHG ‘Action Jackson’ beat MIG ‘Monks’ 3-2 (Aditya Shandilya (+50) lost Anuj Soni (+50) 65- 96; Jignesh Thakkar (+50) lost Soham Sawant (+50) 85-111; Uday Shah/ Variksh Mehta (+33) beat Gurav Prabhu/ Prabdeep Singh (+21) 77-23; Jignesh Thakkar (+50) beat Anuj Soni (+50) 112-87; Aditya Shandilya (+50) beat Prabdeep Singh (+30) 103-56).
CRMI ‘Star Blue’ beat CG ‘Gladtiators’ 3-1 (Nikhil Ghadge (+30) lost Aditya Agrawal (+20) 69-76; Chandrashekhar Singh/ Joe Thomas (+32) beat Vimal Thakkar/ Vishal Madan (+23) 96-86; Umesh Barwe (+50) beat Loukic Pathare (+25) 100-57; Chandrashekhar Singh (+55) beat Aditya Agrawal (+20) 102-63).