All India Snooker Open: Simranjeet Singh and Manav Panchal qualify for main draw

Mumbai: Displaying tremendous resilience and willpower Simranjeet Singh fought back from the brink of defeat to turn the tables on the experienced Sunil Jain snatching a tense 4-3 win in a keenly contested best-of-seven-frame second round match of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) organised Rs 13 lakh prize-money ‘Baulkline’ NSCI All India Snooker Open 2023, at the NSCI billiards hall on Thursday evening.

Simranjeet from the start played confidently and offered quite a strong challenge to his seasoned opponent Jain and narrowly lost the opening frame. Jain comfortably took the second before pocketing a close third to sit pretty with a 3-0 lead. However, Simranjeet was not prepared to throw in the towel and he also did not lose his focus as he steadily and gradually clawed his way back. On the other hand, Jain suddenly started to resort to safety tactics rather than going for his pots and Simranjeet fully exploited that situation and with small breaks accumulated the points and went on to successively win the remaining four frames to clinch a well-deserved victory with the frame scores reading 69-72, 53-85, 52-57, 61-51, 50-10, 73-46, and 53-20.

On the adjacent table, the experienced Manav Panchal enjoyed smooth sailing and cruised to a quick 4-0 win against Rahul Bisht in another second round encounter. Panchal potted confidently and seemed to be in a hurry as he quickly moved around the table during the breaks of 37 in the first frame and a superb run of 59 in the second as he carved out a fluent 58-15, 78-28, 51-18, and 95-7 victory without much ado.

In first round encounters, Rovin D’Souza was in full flow and after dropping the opening frame he recovered in grand fashion and constructed a break of 63 (third frame) and went on to defeat Punit Thakkar 3-1 (36-53, 54-29, 60-46, 79-1) to book a place in the second round.

Meanwhile, Vishal Gehani and Nitesh Madan did not encounter any problems easily winning their respective encounters. Gehani blanked Ronak Dedhia 3-0 (56-25, 64-49, 43-9), while Madan outplayed Mohasin Shaikh posting a 3-0 (61-16, 74-13, 104-3) victory.

Results – Round-1: Manav Panchal beat Rohit Yadav 3-0 (72-66, 77-24, 60-12); Rahul Bisht beat Mehraz Memon 3-2 (76-49, 63-23, 13-55, 34-67, 58-31); Zareer Shroff beat Vishal Yelve 3-1 (83-54, 83-52, 35-59, 60-39); Rovin D’Souza beat Punit Thakkar 3-1 (36-53, 54-29, 60-46, 79(63)-1); Vishal Gehani beat Ronak Dedhia 3-0 (56-25, 64-49, 43-9); Nitesh Madan beat Mohasin Shaikh 3-0 (61-16, 74-13, 104-3).

Round-2: Simranjeet Singh beat Sunil Jain 4-3 (69-72, 53-85, 52-57, 61-51, 50-10, 73-46, 53-20);  Manav Panchal beat Rahul Bisht 4-0 (58-15, 78(59)-28, 51-18, 95-7);