Railway cueists Siddharth Parikh and Kamal Chawla both were on the right track and enjoyed a smooth passage to the semi-finals of the Bombay Gymkhana Handicap Billiards Tournament 2018.
Kamal Chawla
The determined Parikh made light of his steep handicap of -525 points and with his sharp play cut short the dream journey of Raj Khandawla (-140) of Cricket Club of India by coasting to a 725-194 victory in a quarter-final encounter at the Bombay Gym billiards room. Parikh showed good touch and control over the cue balls and produced three century breaks of 115, 102, 100 and two other notable efforts of 98 and 60 en route to his win.
Siddharth Parikh,
Chawla, starting with a -325 handicap, was also in great form and quite consistently struck the balls to sideline Elphinstone Cricket Club’s Anurag Bagri (-140) by a comfortable 525-202 points margin. Chawla managed five half century breaks of 71, 68, 55, 53 and 52 during his success over Bagri.
Parikh will take on stronger challenger Rohan Jambusaria of Mandpeshwar Civic Foundation in the semi-finals. Jambusaria -375 handicap toppled Maharashtra number one Rishabh Thakkar of Otters Club who was also playing with the same -375 handicap. Jambusaria, who was steadier between the two cueists, compiled three noteworthy breaks of 104, 72 and 68 to snatch a 575-496 win. Thakkar could only manage two runs of 68 and 59.
Chembur Gymkhana’s Vishal Madan (-375) defeated Hindu Gymkhana’s Devendra Joshi (-475) 575-354 to set up a clash with Chawla in the semi-finals.
Results (quarter-finals): Rohan Jambusaria (MCF, -375) beat Rishabh Thakkar (Otters, -375) 575-496.
Siddharth Parikh (Railways, -525) beat Raj Khandwala (CCI, -140) 725-194
Kamal Chawla (Railways, -325) beat Anurag Bagri (Elphinstone CC, -140) 525-202.
Vishal Madan (Chembur Gym, -375) beat Devendra Joshi (Hindu Gym, -475) 575-354