Former Asian Billiards Champion Devendra Joshi showed his mettle in abundance, al beit in snooker, as he outplayed Mohsin Achhava from Gujarat 4-1 in the Round of 64 of the “The Yasin Merchant Snooker Challenge-2022” , hosted by Khar Gymkhana in memory of their umpteen times national champion Shyam Shroff, here today.
Devendra displayed fine touch right from the word go, as he went on to 2-0 lead before the Gujarat seasoned campaigner struck in the third frame as fired a break of 54 to narrow the lead. But then Devendra came back strongly thereafter to wrap the tie 4-1.
Young Rovin D’Soua learnt the hard way that one should never take a qualifier lightly, when qualifier Abhishek Bajaj stretched him to the hilt before Rovin overcame him 4-3. Vishwajeet Mohan from Uttar Pradesh started his campaign on a positive note as he beat qualifier Ajinkya Yelve 4-1. While Pune lad Suraj Rathi started on a wrong note, as his opponent qualifier Sumit Ahuja jumped to 2-0 lead. However, he recovered in time to capture the next four frames in subline fashion to turn the tie with 4-2 verdict in his favour..
Results : (Main draw-Round of 64): Devendra Joshi bt Q-Mohsin Achhaya (GUJ) 4-1 (60-33 82-30, 21-83 [B54], 64-6, 74-15; Suraj Rathi bt Sumit Ahuja 4-2 (39-71, 54-64, 60-10, 60-31, 75-37, 59-44); Vishwajeet Mohan bt Ajinkya Yelve 4-1 (63-59, 75-0, 28-76, 87-3, 60-36); Aditya Agrawal bt Vilas Upsham 4-0 (67-19, 64-53, 92-46, 92 [52]- 25); Shahbaz Khan bt Marzdi Kalyaniwala 4-0 (70-23, 71-27,61-17, 65-53); Rovin D’ souza bt Q-Abhishek Bajaj 4-3 (74[B59]-10, 65-42, 33-74, 35-63, 19-64, 66-44,66-28).
CLOCK FOR TODAY – SNOOKER – 10 a.m. onwards – Main draw; Yasin Merchant Challenge 2022; Khar Gymkhana.