Rishabh Thakkar of Mumbai had quite a fight on hand before getting the better of Dhaval Gadhvi of Pune in a long draw five-frame affair 3-2 in a Group-E round-robin league match of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018 and played at the Poona Club on Thursday.
Rishabh Thakkar
The Otters Club player Thakkar started with a flourish and uncorked a fluent 62 break in the second as he pocketed the opening two frames to enjoy a 2-0 cushion. But, the Pune opponent Gadhvi made a strong reply to win the next two and take the match to the wire. The decider was quite a close affair before Thakkar managed to win to snatch a 67-30, 62-0, 15-57, 47-70 and 64-35 win.
In another match, Cherag Ramakrishan also from Mumbai put up a steady display and overcame Kaiwalya Chavan of Satara 3-1 (50-36, 67-44, 40-64, 70-50).
Meanwhile, Viren Sharma of Pune was in terrific form and cracked two half century break on way to recording an authoritative 3-1 win against Avenish Shah of Mumbai in Group-A match.
Striking the balls with good accuracy and consistent potting Sharma looked to be in total control against his Mumbai challenger Shah. He started hesitantly and trailed by 38 points in the first, but he managed to stitch together a timely break of 58, which helped him win the frame He dropped his concentration and lost the second as Shah managed to level scores at 1-all.
Sharma once again found hs touch and with a decent run of 38 pocketed the third and then signed off in style by constructing a massive 74 run which completely knocked the fight out his opponent. Sharma eased to a 75-42, 37-62, 62-1 and 76-2 victory.
Results – round-robin league: Group-A: Viren Sharma (Pune) beat Avenish Shah (Mumbai) 3-1 (75(58)-42, 37-62, 62(38)-1, 76(74)-2);
Group-A: Shabaz Khan (Mumbai) beat Avenish Shah (Mumbai) 3-1 (17-43, 83-42, 68-32, 56-27);
Group-A: Shabaz Khan (Mumbai_) beat Arun Kumar (Thane) 3-1 (78-20, 44-56, 57-47, 64-55).
Group-B: Ashwin Palnitkar (Pune) beat Siddhesh Mulay (Chiplun) 3-1 (56-33, 28-53, 75-23, 73-49);
Group-B: Mukund Bharadia (Mumbai) beat Ashwin Palnitkar (Pune) 3-0 (48-20, 62-31, 72-15);
Group-B: Mukund Bharadia (Mumbai) beat Shivam Arora (Pune) 3-1 (23-97(52), 99-18, 61-08, 56-42);
Group-C: Rohan Kothare (Aurangabad) beat Harmehr Mago (Mumbai) 3-1 (50-17, 38-47, 65-37, 46-10);
Group-C: Anand Raghuvanshi (Mumbai) beat Pankaj Khatri (Nashik) 3-2 (78-10, 68-10, 47-59, 21-56, 80-41);
Group-D: Mayank Bhavsar (Mumbai) beat Sumehr Mago (Mumbai) 3-0 (69-36, 63-13, 59-17);
Group-D: Siddharth Tembe (Pune) beat Manav Pachal (Mumbai) 3-2 (55-41, 56-10, 9-70, 48-56, 69-29);
Group-E: Rishabh Thakkar (Mumbai) beat Dhawal Gadhvi (Pune) 3-2 (67-30, 62(62)-0, 15-57, 47-70, 64-35);
Group-E: Cherag Ramakrishan (Mumbai) beat Kaiwalya Chavan 3-1 (50-36, 67-44, 40-64, 70-50);
Group-F: Suraj Rathi (Pune) beat Sparsh Pherwani (Mumbai) 3-1 (54-17, 33-73, 64-44, 67-30);