Otters Club cueist Abhimanyu Gandhi once again produced encouraging performances to fashion defending champions Otters ‘Rockets’ passage to the quarter-final round of the Otters Club BSAM Mumbai Z3-Snooker League 2018, at Otters Club Billiards Room. Gandhi played the lead role to perfection as he twice defeated Rajeev Sharma, first the first 15-red singles opening frame and again in the fourth frame to shape the fortunes of his team’s 3-1 win against Malabar Hill Club’s MHCL ‘Madcaps’ in a pre-quarter-final match.
Otters Club’s Abhimanyu Gandhi excelled as defending champions Otters ‘Rockets’ soared to a 3-1 win against Malabar Hill Club’s MHCL ‘Madcaps’ in the Otters Club BSAM Z3-Mumbai Snooker League 2018
On an adjacent table, Radio Club budding sensation, Shahyan Razmi continued to shine bright as Radio ‘Fusion’ overpowered Chembur Gymkhana’s CG ‘Titans’ by a quick 3-0 margin in another last 16 encounter.
Gandhi (+15) with a cool calculated approach outshone Malabar Hill’s seasoned cueist Sharma (+40) winning the first frame by a 106-78 points margin to provide Otters the early advantage. Later, Otters Club skipper Zenul Arsiwala and doubles partner Nabil Lakdawala (+24) were in control against the Malabar Hill duo of Anshuman Loyalka and Nitin Banka (+33) and pulled through by a 80-53 scoreline in the 9-red doubles frame to extend Ottters’ lead to 2-0.
Later, Adil Engineer (+60) up against Rishabh Thakkar (+20) took full advantage of the 40 points handicap as he kept it simple and with some clever play managed to score a 96-72 win in the 15-red singles third frame for Malabar Hill’s first win and to cut Otters lead to 2-1.
Otters Rockets did not waste too much time to wrap up the contest as Gandhi stamped his authority with another polished effort to hand Sharma a 92-75 defeat in fourth frame.
Results – Round 16: Radio ‘Fusion’ beat CG ‘Titans’ 3-0 (Anees Jumani (+35) bt Dhiraj Kamble (+55) 123-103, Shahyan Razmi (+40) bt Megh Shah (+45) 93-74, Rayaan Razmi/Anuj Mahajan (+20) bt Calvin Monteiro/Nikhil Lalwani (+32) 77-47).
Otters ‘Rockets’ beat MHCL ‘Madcaps’ 3-1 (Abhimanyu Gandhi (+15) bt Rajeev Sharma (+40) 106-78, Zenul Arsiwala/Nabil Lakdawala (+24) bt Anshuman Loyalka/Nitin Banka (+33) 80-53, Rishabh Thakkar (+20) lost Adil Engineer (+60) 72-96, Abhimanyu Gandhi (+15) bt Rajeev Sharma (+40) 92-75).