Seasoned campaigner and former two-time Asian snooker champion Yasin Merchant of Khar Gymkhana and Mukund Bharadia of Cricket Club of India in convincing fashion won their respective semi-final matches and breezed into the snooker final of the BSAM Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-2) Championship 2018, at the Bombay Gymkhana billiards room on Wednesday.
Yasin Merchant defeated Anand Raghuvanshi of Hindu Gymkhana 4-0 the semi-final of the snooker competition of the BSAM Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-2) Championship
Merchant potted steadily and fluently to outplay Anand Raghuvanshi of Hindu Gymkhana 4-0 (55-46, 68-59, 78-9 and 69-37 to take his place in the summit round. The ace cueist Merchant had breaks of 38 and 39 in the third frame.
Bharadia also enjoyed a good run of the balls and breezed past Shivam Arora of Khar Gymkhana by a 4-1 margin. He quickly won the first three frames to take a 3-0 lead, but lost the fourth, before winning the fifth to complete a 87-53, 75-55, 64-33, 56-78 and 66-1 win.
Earlier, CCI’s Sparsh Pherwani’s fantastic winning streak came to grinding halt as he succumbed to the crafty play of Yasin Merchant, who clinched an authoritative 4-1 win in a quarter-final encounter. Pherwani, who had emerged champion in the first leg, played way below his best and went down rather tamely, with the frame scores reading 60-33, 52-12, 18-60, 71)-14 and 83-14 in favour of the experienced Yasin, who compiled three usefuls breaks of 41, 47 and 53 while Pherwani had just one good effort of 41 in winning the third frame.
Results –
Semi-finals: Yasin Merchant (Khar Gymkhana) beat Anand Raghuvanshi (Hindu Gymkhana) 4-0 (55-46, 68-59, 78(38,39)-9, 69-37);
Mukund Bharadia (CCI) beat Shivam Arora (Khar Gymkhana) 4-1 (87-53, 75-55, 64-33, 56(37)-78(40), 66(35)-1.
Quarter-finals: Yasin Merchant (Khar Gymkhana) beat Sparsh Pherwani (CCI) 4-1 (60-33, 52(41)-12, 18-60(41), 71(47)-14, 83(53)-14);
Shivam Arora (Khar Gymkhana) beat Krieshh Gurbaxani (Khar Gymkhana) 4-0 (80(51)-22, 64-49, 87(46)-04, 68(37)-35);
Mukund Bharadia (CCI) beat Mayank Bhavsar (KVSC) 4-1 (24-63, 67-20, 62(30)-32, 62-30, 57-20);
Anand Raghuvanshi (Hindu Gymkhana) beat Nikhil Ootam (CCI) 4-3 (58-17, 54(33)-63(35), 24-71, 69(61)-12, 21-60, 70-17, 63-30).