Arun Kumar from Thane and Siddharth Tembe from Pune produced solid fighting performances to win their respective second round matches in the Senior Snooker qualifying round of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018 and played at the Poona Club.
The Thane cueist Kumar pulled off a 3-2 win against Mumbai’s Shubham Ranade, while Tembe got the better of his city rival Dinesh Mehtani by a similar 3-2 frame score.
Kumar started well and easily pocketed the first frame, but could not sustain the winning momentum against the Mumbai cueist Ranade, who won the second and third frames to take a 2-1 lead. However, the determined Kumar regained his form and won the final two frames, in the best-of-5-frame contest, to clinch a hard-fought 53-11, 26-68, 27-58, 63-30 and 53-14 success and progress to the next round.
In the other match, Tembe quickly ran into form and with steady play took the first two frames to enjoy a 2-0 advantage. But, Mehtani replied back strongly and managed to win the next two frames to level scores at 2-all and force the decider. Tembe was in total control in the fifth frame which he won comfortably to close out the match, winning by a 62-11, 49-13, 55-59, 32-62 and 75-36 scoreline.
Meanwhile, Rajeev Sharma of Mumbai enjoyed a relaxed outing as he cruised past Pune’s Gyanarajan Satpathy by a 3-0 margin. Sharma grabbed every opportunity to put together small useful break to complete a 55-28, 57-26 and 50-10 victory.
Results – Qualifying (round-2): Pankaj Khatri (Pune) beat Vedant Doshi (Pune) 3-1 (69-48, 53-33, 50-65, 69-1); Rajeev Sharma (Mumbai) beat Gyanarajan Satpathy (Pune) 3-0 (55-28, 57-26, 50-10); Satish Karad (Pune) beat Salman Khan (Aurangabad) 3-1 (55-65, 73-31, 64-26, 56-35); Arun Kumar (Thane) beat Shubham Ranade (Mumbai) 3-2 (53-11, 26-68, 27-58, 63-30, 53-14); Siddharth Tembe (Pune) beat Dinesh Mehtani (Pune) 3-2 (62-11, 49-13, 55-59, 32-62, 75-36); Luv Boricha (Mumbai) beat Amardeep Ghodke (Pune) 3-1 (69-2, 40-66, 70-16, 70-27).