Seasoned billiards ace Siddharth Parikh grabbed all the attention as he constructed a century break of 112 and 79 points and his efforts helped P.J. Hindu Gymkhana ‘A’ defeat Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana (JVPG) by a 441-259 point margin in a pre-quarter-final match of the BSAM organized Greatwhite-CCI Kekoo Nicholson Mumbai Billiards League 2023, played at the Cricket Club of India’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall, late Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, Defending champions Mandpeshwar Civic Federation (MCF) moved a step closer to the defence of their title. MCF halted the impressive winning streak of Matunga Gymkhana ‘B’ by romping to a 426-328 win and a place in the last eight. Hosts Cricket Club of India crashed out losing to Bombay Gymkhana by a 465-522 points margin in another last 16 encounter.
NSCI ‘A’, also progressed to the quarter-finals as they shunted out Shivaji Park Gymkhana by coasting to a 656-523 victory.
Hindu Gymkhana who had started with a -50 points combined handicap as compared to the +135 points handicap of JVPG, which gave them an overall advantage of 185 points at the start. But, Parikh’s long-serving teammate Rovin D’Souza (-20 handicap) defeated Manvir Sohal (+50) by a distance, winning 200-86, which was a 114 points difference and cut down JVPG advantage.
Later, Parikh (-90) showed his class and from two of his visits to the table, made it count big as he went on to tame another seasoned cueist Chandresh Shah (+20) storming to a 200-20 win. Parikh’s win by a massive 180 point difference, completely tilted the match in Hindu Gymkhana’s favour as Devansh Jariwala (+60) was left with the easy task of making 91 points against Rahil Patel who faced a stiff task of scoring 200 points needed for the team’s success. Jariwala won the match 91-19 to steer former champions Hindu Gymkhana into the quarter-finals.
Results (round of 16): Madpeshwar Civic Federation beat Matunga Gymkhana ‘B’ 426-328 (Chandu Kansodaria (SCR) bt Naresh Sadarangani (+50) – 200-120, Rohan Jambusaria (-60) bt Aryan Parulekar (+60) – 200(53)-56, Akshya Gogri (+15) beat Aditya Agrawal (-60) – 71(39)-102).
NSCI ‘A’ beat Shivaji Park Gymkhana 656-523 (Nikhil Bhansali (+75) lost Deependra Pinkyar (+60) – 135-200, Abhishek Bajaj (+60) bt Sanket Bapat (+40) – 200-136, Abhishek Joshi (+20) bt Shekar Surve (+20) – 166-67);
Bombay Gymkhana beat Cricket Club of India 522-465 (Vishwajeet Mohan (+30) bt Kanishk Jhanjharia (+20) – 200-144, Rishabh Kumar (-15) bt Hasan Badami (-25) – 200(48)-113, Kaizad Fitter (+30) bt Giriraj Gaglani (+70) – 77-143).
P.J. Hindu Gymkhana ‘A’ beat Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana 441-259 (Rovin D’Souza (-20) bt Manvir Sohal (+50) – 200-86, Siddharth Parikh (-90) bt Chandresh Shah (+20) – 200(112, 79)-20, Devansh Jariwala (+60) bt Rahil Patel (+65) – 91-19).
Results (round of 16): Madpeshwar Civic Federation beat Matunga Gymkhana ‘B’ 426-328;
NSCI ‘A’ beat Shivaji Park Gymkhana 656-523;
Bombay Gymkhana beat Cricket Club of India 522-465;
P.J. Hindu Gymkhana ‘A’ beat Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana 441-259.