Nikhil Saigal as usual produced another gutsy display and sidelined Shubojit Roy carving out a 4-1 win in a best-of-7-frame final qualifying round match of the Rs 12.5 lakh prize-money CCI Snooker Classic 2024, organised by the Cricket Club of India, and played at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall on Wednesday.
Nikhil Saigal played solidly and confidently went for his shots against Roy who fought well and managed to win the second frame. But, thereafter Saigal called shots and played some excellent shots to complete a 66-42, 14-59, 87-21, 64-52 and 63-40 victory to qualify for the main draw.
Earlier in second round encounters, Abhishek Bajaj had things under control against Sukeel Venkatramani and raced to a fluent 3-0 (79-61, 74-29 and 63-17) win to advance to the final qualifying round.
Pune cueist Gaurav Deshmukh also progressed to final qualifying round easily defeating Alam Shaikh of Mumbai 3-0 (48-30, 75-47, 83-7). The Pune challengers produced two breaks of 42 and 39 in winning the second and third frames.
Mumbai’s seasoned cueists Manav Panchal and Vishal Gehani also progressed to the third and final round. Panchal tamed Jignesh Chokshi 3-0 (59-33, 68-17, 77-40) and Gehani constructed a break of 54 in the third frame to blank Anil Sagar 3-0 (57-36, 51-48, 64-16) in second round encounters.
Results – Final round: Nikhil Saigal bt Shubojit Roy 4-1 (66-42, 14-59, 87-21, 64-52, 63-40).
Round 2: Vishal Gehani bt Anil Sagar 3-0 (57-36, 51-48, 64(54)-16); Manav Panchal bt Jignish Chokshi 3-0 (59-33, 68-17, 77-40); Vijay Nichani bt M.D. Salim 3-0 (78-20, 63-21, 77-38); Sumit Ahuja bt Raj Shetty 3-0 (64-29, 71-54, 62-1); Vishwajeet Mohan bt Ranjeet Negi 3-1 (50-33, 41-73, 69-20, 72-1); Gaurav Deshmukh bt Alam Shaikh 3-0 (48-30, 75(42)-47, 83(39)-7); Imran Khan bt Avinash Gaikwad 3-0 (60-9, 60-7, 60-10); Abhishek Bajaj bt Sukeel Venkatramani 3-0 (79-61, 74-29, 63-17).
Round 1: Nayan Bhuva bt Pamula Avinash 3-2 (54-71, 70-40, 29-71, 58-55, 46-11); Sunil Jain bt Aditya Ajmeera 3-2 (29-55, 61(40)-19, 73-33, 35-62, 64(54)-18); Krishna Tohgaonkar bt Clifford Vincent 3-1 (57-19, 66-6, 17-54, 94-36); Shakeel Ahmed bt Kartikeya Panyam 3-0 (72-5, 62-36, 58-28).