Mumbai: Otters Club team Otters ‘Rockets’ are just a win away from completing an historic hat-trick of triumphs in the Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra organised BSMA-Otters Mumbai Snooker League. Having consecutively emerged champions in the last two years Otters Rockets’ cueists produced another brilliant consistent performance to bulldoze their way past Malabar Hill Club’s MHCL ‘Snooker Stars’, charging to a quick 3-0 victory in the best-of-five frame semi-final match at the Otters Club billiards room. Standing in Otters Club’s path to winning their third title is Juhu Vile Parle’s outfit JVPG ‘Mafia’ who scraped past North Indian Association’s NIA ‘Surgical Strikers’ by a thin 3-2 margin in a closely contested second semi-final.
Otters Club’s proficient cueist Abhimanyu Gandhi provided the home team with the best possible start. Gandhi playing with a handicap of +10 against Malabar Hill Club’s Rohan Mehta (+60), showed excellent touch and control as he constructed a break of 40 to cut down the 50 point advantage he had conceded. He followed it up with a neatly compiled effort of 47 to complete a facile 109-64 win in the 15-red singles first frame. Later, the Otters Club combination of Nabil Lakdawala and Zenul Arsiwala (+18) comfortably defeated the Snooker Stars pairing of Manav Panchal and Adil Engineer (+24) coasting to a 77-42 win in the 9-red doubles second frame and double the lead.
In the third frame, youngster Yash Babni (+55) grabbed his chances to score over Malabar Hill Club’s reliable player Akshat Kejriwal (+45) winning by a close 108- 85 margin to wrap up the contest and ensure Otters Club passage to the summit round.
Results (Sfs): Otters Rockets bt MHCL Snooker Stars 3-0 (A Gandhi (+10) bt R Mehta (+60) 109(40,47)-64; N Lakdawala/ Z Arsiwala (+18) bt M Panchal/ A Engineer (+24) 77-42; Y Babni (+55) bt A Kejriwal (+45) 108- 85). JVPG ‘Mafia’ bt NIA ‘Surgical Strikers’ 3-2 (K Saraf (+40) bt D Gangwani (+40) 100-60; A Padhye/ R Patel (+15) bt M Singh/ R Gupta (+29) 76-49; A Raja (+40) lost H Vyas (+50) 70-100; K Saraf lost D Gangwani 79-126; A Raja bt H Vyas 107-66).
- FPJ Sports Desk
