Exhibiting superb fighting qualities and determination Satrangi Squad snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to advance to the semi-final round of the Rs 20 lakh prize-money inaugural LIC-Snooker Premier League – 2016. Satrangi Squad, trailed 0-2, before they turned things around with some spirited performances from the three heavyweights in the team, J. Varun Kumar, Malkeet Singh and Brijesh Damani, who all went onto win the next three games on the trot and help the team to clinch a decisive 3-2 win in the best-of-5-games quarter-final encounter at the Garware Club House on Friday afternoon.
Faisal Khan
Meanwhile, Faisal Khan dished out another consistent performance by winning both his games, including the crucial deciding game, to steer Unicca Challengers to a 3-2 win against RRockets in another quarter-final tie on an adjacent table.
Unicca lost the opening game (6-red) when R. Girish went down to Laxman Rawat 1-2 before Faisal leveled the scores when he defeated Sundeep Gulati 2-0 in the 15-red second game. Later Unicca’s double combination of National women’s 6-red champion Amee Kamani and Nalin Patel prevailed over RRockets duo of Hitesh Kotwani and Rohan Sakalkar by 70-20 in the single frame doubles game and take a 2-1 lead in the match. RRockets won the fourth with Dhwaj Haria getting the better of Rovin D’Souza 2-1 in the 6-red game to take the match to the decider.
In the fifth game, 15-red one frame tie-breaker, Faisal maintain his fine form and romped to a comfortable 74-54 win against Rawat and clinch the match in favour of Unicca Challengers.
Satrangi Squad started badly with their doubles pair of Amol Abdagiri and Yogesh Sharma losing to V. Subramanian and Aashit Pandya 34-47 and later Brijesh Damani also lost to Kamal Chawla 1-2 in the 15-red second game. Thereafter, Satrangi staged a grand recovery with J. Varun Kumar beating Ketan Madan 2-0 in the 6-red third game before Malkeet Singh went on to win the crucial 6-red fourth game 2-1 against Shivam Arora to force the fifth game. In the, tie-breaker deciding fifth 15-red game, Brijesh Damani showed plenty of aggression and potted well to score over Kamal Chawla 81-36 and seal a creditable victory for his team.
In other quarter-final encounters, The Break Builders tamed Mumbai Stars 3-1 and Royal Strikers prevailed over Frame Masters by an identical 3-1 margin.
Results (quarter-finals): Unicca Challengers beat RRockets 3-2 : R. Girish lost to Laxman Rawat 1-2 (0-58, 48-22, 1-40 – 6red), Faisal Khan bt Sundeep Gulati 2-0 (82(82)-8, 54-46 – 15red), Amee Kamani/Nalin Patel bt Hitesh Kotwani/Rohan Sakalkar 70-20 (doubles), Rovin D’Souza lost to Dhwaj Haria 1-2 (28-26, 30-28, 0-61 – 6red), Faisal Khan bt Laxman Rawat 74-54 (15red, 1 frame tie-breaker).
The Break Builders beat Mumbai Stars 3-1 : Siddharth Parikh bt Rahul Sachdev 2-0 (48-4, 47-21 – 6red), Sparsh Pherwani lost to Ishpreet Singh Chadha 0-2 (95(95)-6, 68-34 – 15red), Rishabh Thakkar/Manan Chandra bt Ashok Shandilya/Arun Agrawal 85-54 (doubles), Shahbaz A. Khan bt Rajwardhan Joshi 2-1 (40-7, 14-44, 53-0).
Royal Strikers beat Frame Masters 3-1 : Sourav Kothari bt Nikhil Ootam 2-1 (72(40)-14, 52-61, 68-22 – 15red), Hasan Badami bt Mahesh Jagdale 2-0 (41(41)-0, 39-9 – 6red), Arantxa Sanchis/Nishant Dossa lost to Yasin Merchant/Dhruv Sitwala 7-69 (doubles), Alok Kumar bt Manav Panchal 2-0 (48-14, 31-21).
Satrangi Squad beat SPG Dark Knights 3-2 : Amol Abdagiri/ Yogesh Sharma lost to V. Subramanian/Aashit Pandya 34-47 (doubles), Brijesh Damani lost to Kamal Chawla 1-2 (25-79, 55-11, 3-77 – 15red), J. Varun Kumar bt Ketan Madan 2-0 (37-18, 42-10 – 6red), Malkeet Singh bt Shivam Arora 2-1 (38-0, 20-36, 50-19 – 6red), Brijesh Damani bt Kamal Chawla 81-36 (15red, 1 frame tie-breaker).
Unicca Challengers beat RRockets 3-2 : R. Girish lost to Laxman Rawat 1-2 (0-58, 48-22, 1-40 – 6red), Faisal Khan bt Sundeep Gulati 2-0 (82(82)-8, 54-46 – 15red), Amee Kamani/Nalin Patel bt Hitesh Kotwani/Rohan Sakalkar 70-20 (doubles), Rovin D’Souza lost to Dhwaj Haria 1-2 (28-26, 30-28, 0-61 – 6red), Faisal Khan bt Laxman Rawat 74-54 (15red, 1 frame tie-breaker).
In Thursday evening’s final group matches – Group-A: Mumbai Stars beat Unicca Challengers 3-0 : Rahul Sachdev bt R. Girish 2-1 (9-56, 39-15, 41-0 – 6red), Ishpreet Singh Chadha bt Faisal Khan 2-0 (77-36, 79(50) – 15red), Ashok Shandilya/Arun Agrawal bt Vishal Madan/Rovin D’Souza 59-49 (doubles).
Group-B: The Break Builders beat Ottaman Army 3-1 : Siddharth Parikh bt Bharat Sissodiya 2-1 (6-43, 44-19, 39-0 – 6red), Sparsh Pherwani/Gaurav Jaisinghani lost to Sanjeev Bijlani /Abdul Rehman 49-66 (doubles), Manan Chandra bt Varun Madan 2-0 74-26, 75(40)-34 – 15red), Shahbaz A. Khan bt Nitesh Madan 2-0 (44-1, 51-0 – 6red).
Group-A: SPG Dark Knights beat Saffron Army 3-0 : Kamal Chawla bt Pushpendra Singh 2-0 (71-51, 80-4 – 15red), Ketan Chawla bt Anuj Uppal 2-0 (35-1, 38-4 – 6red), Shekar Surve/V. Subramanian bt Zubin Lelinwalla/Saumil Karkera 83-16 (doubles).
Group-B: Frame masters beat Satrangi Squad 3-2 : Manav Panchal lost to Brijesh Damani 0-2 (13-82, 47-56 – 15red), Nikhil Oootam lost to Varun Kumar 0-2 (0-43, 4-42 – 6red), Yasin Merchant/Rishabh Kumar bt Yogesh Sharma/Anurag Bagri 66-7 (doubles), Manav Panchal bt Alok Kumar 2-0 (38-3, 30-21 – 6red), Yasin Merchant bt Brijesh Damani 76-21 (15red, 1 frame tie-breaker).