Samay Wadhwan was on a roll and smoothly sailed past Raj Chhari cruising to a straight-frame 3-0 (50-9, 34-25 and 55-17) victory in a second round best-of-5-frame match of the Matunga Gymkhana organized Rs 1.8 lakh 6-Red Open Snooker Tournament, conducted under the auspices of BSAM, and played at the gymkhana’s billiards hall on Thursday. The tournament is being supported by Pidilite Industries Ltd, Nagee Cues and Himatlal Doshi.
In contrast, seasoned cueist Jeet Gawade of Shivaji Park’s had to bring out his best to brush aside the determined challenge from the inexperienced Alam Sheikh and carve out a hard-fought 3-2 (55-11, 1-43, 12-36, 27-13 and 44-27) victory.
Sheikh after losing the first frame fought back and stunned Gawade by winning the next two frames to snatch a 2-1 lead. Gawade brought his vast experience to the fore and with safety play, ensured to force a decider. In the fifth frame Gawade cashed in on every opportunity to build small but useful breaks and went on to win the contest to move into the third round.
Manoj Nandwani also faced a similar situation in his second round clash with Swaroop Pillai. Trailing 1-2 Nandwani easily won the fourth frame to level the frame scores and then held his nerves to win the decider to clinch a 3-2 (26-16, 22-32, 28-46, 47-12 and 36-33) verdict.
Results – Round-2: Manoj Nandwani bt Swaroop Pillai 3-2 (26-16, 28-32, 47-12, 36-33); Jeet Gawade bt Alam Shaikh 3-2 (55-11, 1-43, 12-36, 27-13, 44-27); Ravindra Sawant bt Jayraj Amane 3-1 (39-29, 24-38, 36-28, 35-17); Dipesh Jain bt Pratik Khatri 3-0 (30-27, 42-13, 41-5); Zulfikar Saria bt Nilesh Sangar 3-1 (26-15, 19-30, 37-14, 33-12); Darshan Shah bt Manish Pahuja 3-0 (30-17, 39-35, 37-7); Karan Makwana bt Yash Rayani 3-1 (39-13, 33-19, 28-37, 55-19); Samay Wadhwan bt Raj Chhari 3-0 (50-9, 34-25, 55-17);
Round-1: Vijay Mallah bt Hormuz Pardiwalla 3-0 (35-10, 30-29, 28-19); Sanjay Sawant bt Umesh Marathe 3-0 (48-18, 41-40, 37-12).