Siddhesh Mulay of Chiplun and Siddharth Tembe of Pune both qualified for the main draw of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018. The main draw round-robin league matches are scheduled to commence from Monday, September 24.
The Mago brothers, 14-year-old Sumehr (left) and 20-year-old Harmehr, both in convincing fashion won their final qualifying round of matches to advance to the main draw of the Senior Snooker event of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018.
In the concluding final round of matches, Mulay held his nerves to overcome Pune’s Raajiv Lal winning in three closely contested frames at 3-0 (54-50, 72-31, 49-48) at the Poona Club.
In another match, Tembe also enjoyed an easy outing and eased past Aurangabad’s Omar Farooqui 3-1 (62-30, 61-36, 17-64, 68-30).
Mulay is drawn in Group-B along with Mukund Bharadia of Mumbai and Pune cueists Shivam Arora and Ashwin Palnitkar. Tembe is clubbed with three Mumbai players, Manav Panchal, Sumehr Mago and Mayank Bhavsar in Group-D.
Meanwhile, the Mago brothers of Sumehr and Harmehr both registered authoritative 3-0 wins in the final qualifying round encounters to also progress to the next phase of the competition. The 14-year-old Sumehr with a degree of comfort tamed Pune’s Nilesh Patankar 3-0 (65-1, 56-38, 72-35), while the 20-year-old Harmehr outshone another Pune player Srinivas Kasturi 3-0 (72-3, 54-20, 61-16).
Another talented and upcoming Mumbai cueist Sparsh Pherwani also advanced to the main draw. Sparsh defeated Yogesh Lohiya of Pune 3-0 (64-40, 52-2, 50-32).
Results – qualifying (final round): Siddhesh Mulay (Chiplun) beat Raajiv Lal (Pune) 3-0 (54-50, 72-31, 49-48); Siddharth Tembe (Pune) beat Omar Farooqui (Aurangabad) 3-1 (62-30, 61-36, 17-64, 68-30); Harmehr Mago (Mumbai) beat Srinivas Kasturi (Pune) 3-0 (72-3, 54-20, 61-16); Sparsh Pherwani (Mumbai) beat Yogesh Lohiya (Pune) 3-0 (64-40, 52-2, 50-32); Sumehr Mago (Mumbai) beat Nilesh Patankar (Pune) 3-0 (65-1, 56-38, 72-35).
Main draw groupings – Group-A: Shabaz Khan (Mumbai), Arun Kumar (Thane), Avenish Shah (Mumbai), Viren Sharma (Pune).
Group-B: Mukund Bharadia (Mumbai), Shivam Arora (Pune), Ashwin Palnitkar (Pune), Siddhesh Mulay (Chiplun).
Group-C: Anand Raghuvanshi (Mumbai), Pankaj Khatri (Pune), Harmehr Mago (Mumbai), Rohan Kothare (Aurangabad).
Group-D: Manav Panchal (Mumbai), Sumehr Mago (Mumbai), Siddharth Tembe (Pune), Mayank Bhavsar (Mumbai).
Group-E: Rishabh Thakkar (Mumbai), Cherag Ramakrishnan (Mumbai), Dhawal Gadhvi (Pune), Kaiwalya Chavan (Satara).
Group-F: Suraj Rathi (Pune), Sparsh Pherwani (Mumbai), Aakash Padalikar (Pune), Luv Boricha (Mumbai).
Group-G: Taha Khan (Pune), Raajeev Sharma (Mumbai), Abhishek Bajaj (Mumbai), Kreishh Gurbaxani (Mumbai).
Group-H: Abhimanyu Gandhi (Mumbai), Liyakat Shaikh (Pune), Vignesh Sanghvi (Pune), Gaurav Patange (Pune).