Kalpesh Merwada had to bring out his best while quelling the spirited challenge of Vinod Nair 3-2 (68-42, 39-55, 61-14, 27-59, 48-45) in the best of five-frames to move into the second round of the qualifying round of the “The Yasin Merchant Snooker Challenge-2022”, which got underway at Khar Gymkhana here today. There are 48 players in the qualifying rounds and after going through fours rounds, 16 of the qualifiers will make the main draw.
In other ties, Raj Charri , after lot of ups and down overpowered Bapu Gaikwad 3-2 (42-75, 70-44, 11-66, 52-39, 55-21); local Khar Gymkhana boy Ravi Jaisingh fought back from 0-2 down to turn the tables on Shakir Qureshi 3-2 (44-60, 47-54, 61-14, 68-23,68-5). Rahul Purescha dropped a frame before putting out Sumeet Sharma 3-1 (36-53, 66-60, 62-20, 64-24) and Krish Shetty routed Anil Sagar 3-0 (59-45, 55-39, m42-40).
The cream of top national players. Ishpreet Singh, the current national champion and Asian No.2 alongwith former Asian medalist and world bronze medalist Shivam Arora, Laxman Rawat, Brijesh Damani and Kreish Gurbaxani, the current state champion, wil be star attraction after the qualifying rounds.
The winner of the mega event will be ticher by a cheque of Rs one lakh, while s runner-up, semifinalists and quarter-finalists well be pocketing by Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 1,2500 respectively. There will also be cash prize of highest break- Rs 15,000 (for plus 130) and Rs 10,000 (for plus 100).
CLOCK FOR TUESDAY –
SNOOKER – 11 a.m. onwards – Qualifying rounds; “The Yasin Merchant Challenge-2022: Khar Gymkhana.