High on confidence, Mumbai Stars enjoyed another successful day as they subdued SPG Billiardiers 3-1 in Qualifier-I (semi-final) and advanced to the final of the BSAM (Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra) organised Rs 10 lakh prize-money 2nd Videocon-Billiards Premier League (BPL) 2015, and played at the Garware Club House Billiards Hall on Tuesday night. The BPL 2015 is being ‘Powered by Videocon’ and hosted by Bombay Gymkhana.
Ashok Shandilya
However, Billiardiers are still in the reckoning of making it to the summit round as they now take on Rrockets in Qualifier-II and the winner will face off against Mumbai Star to decide the champions of BPL 2015. Rrockets overcame Adamo Potters 3-2 in the Eliminator tie.
Mumbai Stars, the most consistent team in the first phase, wrested the initial advantage as their doubles pairing of Nikhil Ghadge and Hasan Badami (-75 handicap) defeated the Billiardiers duo of Shekhar Surve and Shivam Arora (-95) by a comfortable 175-63 points.
National Junior Billiards champion, Ishpreet Singh Chadha (-100) playing with loads of confidence and with some good play managed to overcome seasoned pro Ashok Shandilya (-190) by a close 200-280 margin in the second frame and level the match scores at 1-all.
But Mumbai Stars regained the lead when Vishal Madan (-160) prevailed over Devendra Joshi (-190) 260-273 in the third frame.
Later in the fourth frame, former Asian Games Gold medal winner Shandilya, who was again drawn to meet the young Ishpreet ensured that this time he came up trumps. Shandilya knocked in a timely break of 104 to coast towards a 290-133 and secure Mumbai Stars place in the title round.
Results – Qualifier-I: Mumbai Stars beat SPG Billiardiers 3-1 (Nikhil Ghadge & Hasan Badami (-75) bt Shekhar Surve & Shivam Arora (-95) 175-63; Ashok Shandilya (-190) lost to Ishpreet Singh Chadha (-100) 200-280(60); Vishal Madan (-160) bt Devendra Joshi (-190) 260(58)-273(94); Ashok Shandilya (-190) bt Ishpreet Singh Chadha (-100) 290(104)-133).
Eliminator: Rrockets beat Adamo Potters 3-2 (Raajeev Sharma & Manav Panchal (-65) lost to Sunil Jain & Farhad Tengra (-70) 137-170; Sarang Shroff (-130) lost to Siddharth Parikh (-240) 58-340(194,129); Dhvaj Haria (-190) bt Hitesh Kotwani (-130) 290-121; Satbir Narula (-40) bt Siddharth Parikh (-240) 140-234(82,79); Dhvaj Haria (-190) bt Sunil Jain (-50) 290(71,65,56,51)-33).