Mumbai, April 17: Former world champion and India No. 4 Rupesh Shah of Gujarat after a hesitant start was in full flow and rolled in a 399 break to brush aside the challenge from Mumbai’s talented youngster Sumer Mago in a pre-quarter-final match of the Rs 10 lakh prize-money CCI Classic Invitation Billiards (time format) Championship 2023, organized by the Cricket Club of India, at the Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall on Monday afternoon.
India No. 4 Shah asserted his dominance with a 155 run to forge into the lead in the two and a half match. Shah after having settled down launched into the marathon break which culminated when he missed a difficult red pot. Shah who had gained a sizeable lead then had two more notable breaks of 83 and 102 to put the issue beyond the youngster storming to 984-399 win. The current Maharashtra state junior number 1 billiards player Sumer who was unable to match his senior opponent played quite well and managed a solitary century break of 103 towards the end of the match.
On another table, India No. 2 Dhruv Sitwala of Mumbai got the better of his sparring and India No. 5 Siddharth Parikh clinching a close 559-455 point victory and set a clash with Rupesh. The two had met in the National championship semi-finals last December with Sitwala advancing to the final.
India No. 2 Dhruv Sitwala of Mumbai got the better of his sparring and India No. 5 Siddharth Parikh clinching a close 559-455 point victory in a pre-quarter-final match of the Rs 10 lakh prize-money CCI Classic Invitation Billiards (time format) Championship 2023, organized by the Cricket Club of India, at the Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall on Monday afternoon. |
Sitwala made his intentions clear from the outset as he produced two substantial breaks of 112 and 258 which gave him the advantage and put him on the road to victory. The India No. 5 Parikh was not at his usual best and his best efforts in the 83 and 146.
In other matches, Ishpreet Singh of Mumbai, who has been in consistent form prevailed over Durga Prasad of Hyderabad 821-582, while current world championship runner-up Sourav Kothari who compiled a mammoth break of 351 shut the door on Loukic Pathare coasting to a 1179-388 victory.
Later in the evening session, the overseas players Peter Gilchrist of Singapore and Rob Hall of England comfortably won their respective last 16 matches. The former world champion Gilchrist got the better of a spirited Mumbai cueist V. Subramanian 829-496, while Hall staved off a spirited fight from Mumbai seasoned campaigner Arun Agrawal snatching a 689-513 victory. Hall produced breaks of 102, 75 and 105 to secure his win.
Meanwhile, IBSF world champion Pankaj Advani India’s most impressive player was in full flow and constructed two massive breaks of 395 and 293 to sideline Mumbai’s Vishal Madan 1101-463, while Gujarat’s Dhvaj Haria defeated another seasoned cueist from Mumbai Ashok Shandilya 633-561 to advance to the quarter-finals.
Results - Pre-quarter-finals: Rupesh Shah bt Sumer Mago 984[155, 399, 83, 102]-399[103].
Dhruv Sitwala Siddharth Parikh 558[112, 258]-455[83, 146].
Ishpreet Singh bt Durga Prasad 821[92, 86, 100]-582[84, 76, 76].
Sourav Kothari bt Loukic Pathare 1179[168, 170, 351, 108]-388[63, 63].
Peter Gilchrist bt V. Subramanian 829[74, 74, 85, 190]-496[97, 71].
Pankaj Advani bt Vishal Madan 1101[395, 293, 111, 75]-463[78, 109].
Dhvaj Haria Vs Ashok Shandilya 633[106, 81, 138, 118]-561[83, 84, 62].
Rob Hall bt Arun Agrawal 689[102, 75, 105]-513[82].
