Bombay Gymkhana’s Nalin Patel and Rishabh Thakkar of Otters Club comfortably won their respective opening Group-D and Group-E round-robin league matches of the Bombay Gymkhana Handicap Billiards Tournament 2018.
Nalin Patel of Bombay Gymkhana easily defeated Kreishh Gurbaxani of Khar Gymkhana in a group-D league match of the Bombay Gymkhana Handicap Billiards Tournament.
The seasoned pro Patel (-475 points handicap) stamped his authority with a free-flowing performance against Maharashtra’s second ranked, 16-year-old Kreishh Gurbaxani (-240 handicap) of Khar Gymkhana and charged to a 675-266 points win at the Bombay Gymkhana’s billiards room.
Playing in familiar surroundings, Patel settled down quickly on the home tables and rattled in two century efforts of 134 and 107 and in addition had two decent runs of 87 and 71 to wipe out his steep handicap and then scored the 200 points to race away to victory. The teenager Gurbaxani, who last month finished runner-up to Thakkar in the BSAM State selection tournament, could only manage to cover his handicap and score a mere 26 points which was not good enough.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra state champion Thakkar (-375) was a comfortable winner against Mandpeshwar Civic Foundation’s Dharmesh Mistry (-100) as he strolled to a 575-203 win. Thakkar created breaks of 98, 40 and 39 during his win.
However, Aditya Agrawal of Elphinstone Cricket Club had a very successful day winning back-to-back matches in Group-H. In his first encounter, Agrawal (-400) steadily constructed breaks of 153, 82 and 53 and easily defeated S. Simhachalam (-400) of Railway 600-185. Later, Agrawal maintained the momentum and tamed Dadar Club’s Carl Serrao (-175) 600-163 with ease. He compiled substantial breaks of 106, 92, 68, 58 and 57 to complete the win.
Results Round-robin league – Group-A: Siddharth Parikh (Rly, -525) beat Amit Sapru (Park Club, -165) 725-306.
Group-B: Rishabh Kumar (Bombay Gym, -225) beat Ghulam Vahanvati (Bombay Gym, -20) 425-189.
Dhruv Sitwala (Hindu Gym, -525) beat Murali Krishna (Rly, -140) 725-279.
Group-C: Rayaan Razmi (Elphinstone CC, 135) beat Loukic Pathare (Chembur Gym, -275) 335-133(275).
Devendra Joshi (Hindu Gym, -475) beat Pranay More (MHC, -60) 675-65.
Group-D: Nalin Patel (Bombay Gym, -475) beat Kreishh Gurbaxani (Khar Gym, -240) 675-266.
Raj Khandwala (CCI, -140) beat Vishal Madan (Chembur Gym, -375) 340-124(375).
Group-E: Shekhar Surve (Rly, -130) beat Arun Agrawal (Matunga Gym, -425) 330-181(425).
Rishabh Thakkar (Otters, -375) beat Dharmesh Mistry (MCF, -100) 575-203.
Group-F: Sagar Desai (NSCI, -70) beat Rohan Jambusaria (MCF, -375) 270-88(375).
Raajeev Sharma (MHC, -175) beat Sagar Desai (NSCI, -70) 375-234.
Group-G: Anurag Bagri (Elphinnstone CC, -140) beat Durga Prasad (Rly, -400) 340-117(400).
Sanjay Gamre (Bombay Gym, -115) beat Neeraj Kumar (Rly, -400) 315-191(400).
Group-H: Aditya Agrawal (Elphinstone CC, -400) beat S. Simhachalam (Rly, -400) 600-185.
Aditya Agrawal (Elphinstone CC, -400) beat Carl Serrao (Dadar Club, -175) 600-163.
Photo captions: Nalin Patel of Bombay Gymkhana easily defeated Kreishh Gurbaxani of Khar Gymkhana in a group-D league match of the Bombay Gymkhana Handicap Billiards Tournament.