Mumbai: Rrahul Sachdev and Rovin D’Souza both showed good touch and potted consistently and went on to record century breaks in winning their respective matches of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) organised ‘Baulkline’ NSCI Rs 13 lakh prize-money All India Snooker Open 2023, at the NSCI billiards hall, late Thursday evening. The left handed Sachdev was in complete control as he was striking the balls with precision and went on to outclass Yash Kamdar 3-0 coasting to a 83-23, 71-5, and 102-1 victory, in the best-of-five-frame first round qualifying match.
Rovin D’Souza on song
Sachdev after taking the first frame rolled in a break of 66 in the second and then produced the three-figure effort, the first century break of the tournament. He was in full flow and his shot selection and potting was perfect and had he not missed a long blue he would have cleared the table and extended the break. Later, on a side table, D’Souza was also on song and managed to scrape past Vivek Shah winning by a close 4-2 (67-70, 61-20, 102-4, 68-22, 50-57, and 103-16) frame scores victory.
Positive start for Shah
Shah started positively and narrowly won the opening frame to take the lead. D’Souza immediately got into his groove and pocketed the second before compiling a steady break of 53 to clinch the third frame before winning the fourth to enjoy a 3-1 lead. Shah continued to fight and managed to take the fifth by a narrow 7-point difference. That seemed to have the best out of D’Souza as he craftily constructed a mammoth break of 100 to win the sixth frame and seal his win and confirm his place in the main draw.
Windfall for winners
Both Rrahul and D’Souza will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 1,500, which would be presented to each player for every century break. In other keenly contested second round matches, Aditya Agrawal was taken the distance before he managed to beat Harsh Thakkar 4-3 (69-26, 64, 18-64, 58-68, 57-34, 41-68, 55-41, and 63-31) and Rajwardhan Joshi also struggled a bit before defeating Zareer Shroff 4-3 (58-10, 32-61, 83-6, 44-70, 58-71, 59-9, 68-28 to also progress into the main draw.
Results – Round-1: Aashit Pandya beat Gautam Bhalla 3-0 (49-36, 62-52, 54-32; Kanishk Jhanjaria beat Obed Kureshi 3-0 (78-6, 104(56)-0, 92-11; Parth Shah beat Anil Sahani 3-1 (52-21, 23-62, 49-40, 59-24; Cheatan Rajarwal beat Karan Makhwana 3-0 (48-38, 66-13, 64-37; Vishwajeet Mohan beat Gaurav Malhotra 3-0 (83-51, 90-36, 80-37; Kalpesh Mewada beat Rohan Kothare 3-1 (94-53, 66-11, 52-65, 72(52)-58); Shehzad Hussain beat Manish Purabia 3-0 (74-14, 62-25, 74-50); Sanjay Singh beat Aarav Sancheti 3-1 (77-20, 34-70, 58-27, 70-40); Rishabh Kumar beat Mohsin Achava 3-0 (57-28, 62-55, 80-35); Saad Sayed beat Devesh Sunthaliya 3-0 (60-29, 67-59, 77-9);
Round-2: Rovin D’Souza beat Vivek Shah 4-3 (67-70, 61-20, 102(53)-4, 68-22, 50-57, 103(100)-16); Aditya Agrawal beat Harsh Thakkar 4-3 (69-26, 64, 18-64, 58-68, 57-34, 41-68, 55-41, 63-31); Rajwardhan Joshi beat Zareer Shroff 4-3 (58-10, 32-61, 83-6, 44-70, 58-71, 59-9, 68-28; Rrahul Sachdev beat Yash Kamdar 3-0 (83-23, 71(66)-5, 102(101)-1).
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