Pune challenger Viren Sharma survived both his opening two round matches in the Senior Snooker qualifying round of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018.
In the first round Sharma overcame a strong fight from his Pune opponent Ajinkya Swami pulling off a tight 3-2 (63-33, 16-46, 39-66, 56-42, 62-48) victory in the best-of-5-frame match at Poona Club.
Later, in the second round match at Deccan Gymkhana, he managed to scrape past another Pune rival Saad Sayeed 3-2 (44-70, 46-45, 6-70, 59-28, 73-46) to qualify for the main draw of the competition.
Meanwhile, Chiplun cueist Omkar Gore in splendid fashion recovered from a 0-2 deficit to sideline Pune’s Satchit Jamgaonkar snatching a deserving 3-2 win in a first round encounter. Gore struggled initially against Jamgaonkar and dropped the opening two frames, but he gathered his wits and went on to pocket the last three frames in succession to seal his win with the frame scores reading 30-45, 50-58, 46-27, 51-21 and 58-15.
Aurangabad cueists encountered mixed fortunes in their opening round ties. Rohan Kothare of Aurangabad defeated Pune’s Sumit Bijlani 3-0 (50-20, 58-20, 83-60). However, the other two Aurangabad players, Gavrav Tak lost to Nashik’s Nakul Patil 0-3 (42-65, 5-47, 17-35) and Feroz Khan went down to Pune’s Bipin Sanklap 1-3 (43-69, 34-57, 66-31, 4-40).
Results – qualifying (round-1): Omkar Gore (Chiplun) beat Satchit Jamgaonkar (Pune) 3-2 (30-45, 50-58, 46-27, 51-21, 58-15); Vignesh Sanghvi (Pune) beat Mosheen Khan (Pune) 3-0 (64-24, 46-9, 49-31); Rohan Kothare (Aurangabad) beat Sumitt Bijlani (Pune) 3-0 (50-20, 58-20, 83-60); Abhishek Bajaj (Mumbai) beat Saddam Shaikh (Pune) 3-0 (60-9, 56-16, 56-25); Viren Sharma (Pune) beat Ajinkya Swami (Pune) 3-2 (63-33, 16-46, 39-66, 56-42, 62-48); Ninad Ghag (Pune) beat Vishal Rajani (Pune) 3-0 (69-35, 57-33, 77-53); Amit Parashar (Pune) beat Pratik Dhumal 3-0 (43-12, 64-37, 57-30); Anil Sagar (Mumbai) beat Santosh Dharamadhikar (Pune) 3-1 (57-46, 57-27, 35-60, 59-21); Nakul Patil (Nashik) beat Gaurav Tak (Aurangabad) 3-0 (65-42, 47-5, 35-17); Bipin Sanklap (Pune) beat Feroz Khan (Aurangabad) 3-1 (69-43, 57-34, 31-66, 40-4).