Rising star Kreishh Gurbaxani of Mumbai staged a remarkable late fight, winning the last three frames to send National snooker champion Kamal Chawla of Railway crashing out. The talented Gurbaxani clinched a commendable come from behind 5-4 (78-19, 8-129, 70-22, 8-126, 43-65, 8-88, 64-48, 66-48, and 61-58) victory over the experienced Chawla in a tense and engrossing best-of-9-frame pre-quarter-final match of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) organised ‘Baulkline’ NSCI Rs 13 lakh prize-money All India Snooker Open 2023, at the NSCI billiards hall.
The India No. 1 Chawla grabbed the initiative in the decider as he stitched together a break of 57 to go in front. However, Gurbaxani stayed focused and boldly potted a long red and went on to roll in a 20 plus run and a couple of visits later potted the last red and then went on to polish the balls off the table to snatch a well-deserved win.
National runner-up Sparsh Pherwani joined his city and club mate Gurbaxani in the last eight. Pherwani did not fire any big breaks but was in complete control as he outwitted Paras Gupta racing to a 5-1 (98-23, 76-39, 65-18, 58-70, 80-24, and 67-57) success.
Pherwani’s best efforts were 58 in the fourth which he lost and 54 in the fifth, while Gupta managed a run 0f 70 in winning the fourth frame.
Results – Round of 16: Kreishh Gurbaxani (Mum) beat Kamal Chawla (Rlys) 5-4 (78-19, 8-129(52,65), 70-22, 8-126(126), 43-65, 8-88(66), 64-48, 66-48, 61-58); Sparsh Pherwani (Mum) beat Paras Gupta 5-1 (98-23, 76-39, 65-18, 58(58)-70(65), 80(54)-24, 67-57);