Royal Strikers and RRockets, both registered their third wins in Group-A and Group-B respectively and qualified for the quarter-final round of the Rs 20 lakh prize-money inaugural LIC-Snooker Premier League, and played at the Garware Club House on Thursday morning.
Sourav Kothari
In a Group-A encounter, Royal Strikers riding on the strong efforts from Sourav Kothari and seasoned campaigner Alok Kumar went on to snatch a 3-1 win in the best-of-5 game tie against Mumbai Stars and finish their league engagements with 6 points.
Sourav, who fetched the highest bid provided Strikers with the perfect start defeating young talent Ishpreet Singh Chadha 2-0 in the 15-red first game before Alok also enjoyed a good run with a 2-0 win over another youngster Rahul Sachdev in the 6-red second game to give the team a healthy 2-0 lead.
Mumbai Stars avoided a whitewash as their experienced combination of Ashok Shandilya and Arun Agrawal prevailed over Dhvaj Haria and Hamehr Mago 1-2 in the third game, which was a one-frame doubles game.
However, Mumbai Strikers closed out the match when Hasan Badami played steadily to overcome Rajwardhan Joshi 2-1 in the 6-red fourth game.
On the adjacent table, RRockets inspired by the brilliant display from Sundeep Gulati and Laxman Rawat sidelined Ottoman Army by a comfortable 3-1 margin and are assured of pole position in Group-B as they have finished with 8 points, including 2 bonus points.
Gulati came from behind to defeat Bharat Sissodiya 2-1 in the 15-red first game and give RRockets the lead before teammate Rawat blanked Nitesh Madan 2-0 in the 6-red second game to increase their lead to 2-0.
But RRockets doubles combo of Dhvaj Haria and Hamehr Mago were unable to maintain the momentum and lost the single doubles game 25-65 to the Ottoman Paiur of Varun Madan and PawanKohli. In the very game RRockets secured the win with Hitesh Kotwani getting the better of Abdul Rehman 2-1 in the 6 red, fourth game.
Results – Group-A: Royal Strikers bt Mumbai Stars 3-1: Sourav Kothari bt Ishpreet Singh Chadha 2-0 (97-27, 76-32 – 15red); Alok Kumar bt Rahul Sachdev 2-0 (42-0, 42-22 – 6red); Nishat Dossa/Sunil.Jain lost to Arun Agrawal/Ashok Shandilaya 37-61 (doubles – 1 frame); Hasan Badami bt Rajwardhan Joshi 2-1 (0-36, 42-1, 58-30 – 6red).
Group-B: RRockets beat Ottoman Army 3-1: Sundeep Gulati bt Bharat Sissodiya 2-1 (43-52, 82-36, 69-39 – 15red); Laxman Rawat bt Nitesh Madan 2-0 (39-22, 70(70)-0 – 6red), Dhvaj Haria/Hamehr Mago lost to Varun Madan/PawanKohli 25-65 (doubles – 1 frame); Hitesh Kotwani bt Abdul Rehman 2-1 (32-35, 52-25, 39-0 – 6 red).
Wednesday evening results – Group-A: Royal Strikers beat SPG Dark Knights 3-1: Hasan Badami lost to Shivam Arora 0-2 (14-42, 05-36 – 6red); Sourav Kothari bt Kamal Chawla 2-0 (95-44, 75-24 – 15red); Sunil Jain/Arantxa Sanchis bt Aashit Pandya/Ketan Chawla 73-40 (doubles – 1 frame); Hasan Badami bt Shivam Arora 2-1 (26-38, 40-14, 36-26 – 6red).
Group-B: Ottoman Army beat Frame Masters 3-1: Nitesh Madan bt Mahesh Jagdale 2-1 (22-36, 45-0, 46-4 – 6red); Bharat Sissodiya lost to Yasin Merchant (43-51, 40-56 – 15red); Abdur Rehman/Pawan Kohli bt Rishabh Kumar/Nikhil Ootam 79-36 (doubles 1 frame); Varun Madan bt Manav Panchal 2-1 (17-29, 49-7, 52-12 – 6red).
Group-A: Saffron Army beat Mumbai Star 3-0 : Pushpender Singh bt Ishpreet Singh 2-0 (68-39, 67-46 – 15red); Anuj Uppal bt Rahul Sachdev 2-1 (67-1, 32-42, 41-17 – 6red); Ashutosh Padhy/Kartik bt Ashok Shandilya /Dhariya 67-9 (doubles 1 frame)
Group-B: RRockets bt The Break Builders 3-0 : Sundeep G bt Manan Chandra 2-1 (7-49, 56-12, 48-0 – 6red); Laxman Rawat bt Shabaz Khan 2-0 (52-13, 70-38 – 15red); Hitesh Kotwani/Rohan Sakalkar bt Siddharth P/S. Perani 58-28 (doubles -1 frame)