Mumbai, February 16: Sundeep Gulati of Delhi and Maharashtra’s Rahul Sachdev were engaged in absorbing tussle for supremacy before the former managed to come through by a hard-earned 5-4 verdict in a long drawn best-of-nine frames second round match of the Rs 12.25 lakh prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2018, and played at the CCI’s Wilson Jones Billiards Room on Friday.
In a match of fluctuating fortunes, both the cueist gave it their best shot as they tried to outsmart each other. The senior pro from Delhi got off to a solid start and with a half century effort of 52 went on to pocket the opening three frames to open up a 3-0 advantage. But the bearded Mumbai player came roaring back into contention by constructing small but useful breaks of 54 and 45 in winning the fourth and fifth frames comfortably before closely winning the sixth to level frame scores at 3-all.
Gulati once again found his touch and with modest runs managed to win the seventh to regain the lead before Sachdev with some steady play managed to restore parity at 4-4 and take the match to the decider. The ninth frame was a long affair before Gulati cashed in on an opening to win the crucial frame and complete a marathon 89(break52) -31, 51-33, 66-10, 10-58(54), 7-67(45), 59-64, 88-8,12-72 and 74-33 victory and advance to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Manan Chandra of PSPB continued with his fine showing as he sent another Maharashtra cueist Ishpreet Singh Chadha packing out in the second round. The former National champion, Manan played steadily and potted quite consistently as compared to his opponent from Mumbai and romped to victory in just six frames, with the scores reading 82-1, 80-19, 66-54, 34-64, 75-42 and 68-64 in his favour.
Shahbaz Khan of Maharashtra ensured his passage to the quarter-finals with a 4-3 win against Manish Jain of West Bengal. Haryana’s Divya Sharma also moved in the last eight round defeating Shahbaz Adil Khan of PSPB 5-2 in another second round encounter,
Results (Pre-quarter-finals): Divya Sharma (Har) bt Shahbaz Adil Khan (PSPB) 5-2 (61-39,52-62,64-20,56-45,51-43,24-92(51), 59-1; Shahbaz Khan (Mah) bt Manish Jain (WB) 5-3 (106-10, 73-42,12-69,62-57,27-68,75-23,11-65,72-16); Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Mah) 5-1 (82-1,80-19,66-54,34-64,75-42,68-64); Sundeep Gulati (Del) bt Rahul Sachdev (Mah) 5-4 (89(52)-31,51-33,66-10,10-58(54),7-67(45),59-64,88-8,12-72,74-33)
First Round: Brijesh Damani (PSPB) bt Sonic Multani (Guj) 4-2 (81 (51)-53, 84-12,62-63,44-84,63-40,73-28); Shahbaz Khan (Mah) bt Rajat Khaneja (Chd) 4-3 (15-90,64-36,38-62,50-1,48-61,65-53,58-55).