Pune’s talented cueist Suraj Rathi dished out another stellar performance and dashed the hopes of Mumbai challenger Mahesh Jagdale by clinching a 5-3 victory in the best of-9-frame ‘6-Red’ quarter-finals of the Malabar Hill Club State Ranking Snooker Tournament 2024, and played at the MHC billiards hall on Monday.
Rathi played steadily and grabbed his chances to compile small useful breaks to gather the points and went on to complete a well-deserved win with the frame scores reading 49-16, 11-36, 28-49, 60-8, 40-10, 32-44, 45-25, and 28-19 in his favour and advance to the semi-finals.
Abhishek Bajaj of Mumbai maintained his winning form and defeated compatriot Rrhaul Sachdev by a fighting 5-4 frame scores. In a match of fluctuating fortunes, the Bombay Gymkhana cueist Bajaj notched a break of 47 in the eight frame and recorded a 14-40, 40-21, 39-45, 49-19, 42-38, 8-48, 0-44, 47-0, and 40-36) win and will meet Khar Gymkhana’s Sumer Mago in the semis.
Rathi will clash with another Bombay Gymkhana cueist Vinay Swaminathan in the other semi-final.
Results – 6-Red (quarter-finals): Suraj Rathi (Pune) beat Mahesh Jagdale (Mumbai) 5-3 (49-16, 11-36, 28-49, 60-8, 40-10, 32-44, 45-25, 28-19);
Abhishek Bajaj (Mumbai) beat Rrhaul Sachdev (Mum) 5-4 (14-40, 40-21, 39-45, 49-19, 42-38, 8-48, 0-44, 47(47)-0, 40-36).
15-Red – Group-A: Aditya Shandilya (Mumbai) eat Shiok Agrawal (Nagpur) 3-2 (57-24, 54-37, 5-65, 36-55, 58-29);
Group-B: Aashit Pandya (Dombivli) beat Rohit Rawat (Pune) 3-1 (63-33, 54-53(35), 13-73(33), 64-53);
Group-G: Nikhil Saigal (Mumbai) beat Vishal Bais (Nashik) 3-0 (61-06, 78(43)-16, 71-27);
Siddharth Tembe (Pune) beat Anurag Sharma (Marathwada) 3-2 (18-60, 09-62, 56-42, 54-23, 64-37);
Group-I: Abhijeet Ranade (Pune) beat Piyush Limbad (Pachim Mah) 3-1 (90(56)-09, 46-84, 64-12, 60-31).