Former twice Asian billiards champion Dhruv Sitwala of Hindu Gymkhana and Dhvaj Haria from Gujarat, both left-handed cueists and playing with an identical -500 points handicap comfortably came through their last 16 encounters in the Chembur Gymkhana Handicap Billiards Tournament 2018, and being played at the Chembur Gymkhana Billiards Hall.
Dhruv Sitwala of Hindu Gymkhana tamed Pankaj Khatri of Nashik in a pre-quarter-final match of the Chembur Gymkhana Handicap Billiards Tournament 2018
Sitwala enjoyed a good roll of the balls and tamed Nashik’s Pankaj Khatri (-150), who was not able to cover his handicap. The Hindu Gym player Sitwala kept the score board ticking and gradually overcame his huge handicap before he raced to 200 points, while his opponent Khatri did not cover his handicap. Khatri was still in arrears of 9 points when Sitwala, who had compiled breaks of 175, 91, 89 and 59 crossed the line winning 200-(-9).
Haria was also in full flow and constructed two big breaks of 155 and 101 and a couple of substantial efforts to outclass ECC’s Sunil Jain (-150) 200-75 to book his place in the quarter-finals.
Dhvaj Haria
Meanwhile, seasoned campaigners Ashok Shandilya of Chembur Gymkhana and Devendra Joshi of Hindu Gymkhana, both produced steady performance and also advanced to the quarter-finals.
Former world champion Shandilya (-450) easily defeated CCI’s Bakirao Pacharne (-100) by a 200-93 points margin. Shandilya rode to victory on three notable efforts of 145, 98 and 82, besides a couple of small runs.
Joshi (-450) cashed in on every opportunity to smoothly sailed past another veteran cueist Nalin Patel (-450) of Bombay Gymkhana cruising to a 200-43 points victory. The Hindu Gym player Joshi had one century break of 109 and three half century (85, 61, 61) efforts in his win.
Results –
Pre-quarter-finals: Dhvaj Haria (Gujarat, -500) beat Sunil Jain (ECC, -150) 200-75;
Ankit Thakkar (Matunga Gym, -140) beat Rovin D’Souza (Hindu Gym, -200) 200-69;
Siddharth Parikh (Hindu Gym, -500) beat Aditya Agrawal (Hindu Gym, -375) 200-83;
Devendra Joshi (Hindu Gym, -450) beat Nalin Patel (Bombay Gym, -450) 200-43;
Dhruv Sitwala (Hindu Gym, -500) beat Pankaj Khatri (Nashik, -150) 200-(-9);
S. Shrikrishna (TN, -400) beat Arun Agrawal (Matunga Gym, -375) 200-(-11);
Ashok Shandilya (Chembur Gym, -450) beat Bakirao Pacharne (CCI, -100) 200-93;
Rayaan Raazmi (ECC, -210) beat Raj Khandwala (-180) 200-5.