Mumbai: North India Association team NIA Surgical Strikers were in the best of form and sent Central Railway Mechanical Institute’s CRMI Star Blue crashing to a 3-0 defeat in the Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra organised Otters-BSAM Mumbai Snooker League, at the Otters Club billiards room.
On the side table, Khar Gymkhana’s KG ‘Legends’ riding on Ishpreet Singh Chadha’s twin wins and Faisal Khan’s success went on to record a comfortable 3-1 win against Park Club’s PCL ‘Beach Boys’ in another pre-quarter-final encounter.
Ishpreet (scratch handicap) won the opening 15-red singles frame defeating Park Club’s Ameya Sankhala (+45) 100-75 before Faisal Khan (scratch handicap) prevailed over Vishal Gehani (+40) 89-65 in the second frame, which was also a 15-red tie.
Park Club halted Khar Gymkhana’s charge to victory when their doubles team of Rajiv Sharma and Amit Sapru (+23) got the better of Nikhil Saigal and Deepak Khubchandani (+17) 67-39 to reduce the deficit. But, Ishpreet produced a break of 51 as he tamed Gehani (+40) 119-44 to win the fourth frame and seal Khar Gymkhana’s win.The Khar Gymkhana outfit will clash with home favourites and defending champions Otters Club’s team Otters ‘Rockets’ in the quarter-finals.
NIA started on a positive note as Hardik Vyas (+50) sidelined Central Railway seasoned cueist Nikhil Ghadge (+30) by a convincing 101-81 points margin in winning the 15-red singles first frame. The NIA team continued to march ahead as Divesh Gangwani (+45) easily defeated Umesh Barwe (+50) 115-85 in the second 15-red singles frame. Later, NIA’s doubles pairing of Rahul Chandan and Rajan Gupta (+29) pulled off a close win against Central Railway’s duo of Joe Thomas and Chandrashekar Singh (+32) by a narrow 67-55 point difference to wrap up the match in their favour.
Results
Round of 16: NIA ‘Surgical Strikers’ bt CRMI ‘Star Blue’ 3-0 (H Vyas (+50) bt N Ghadge (+30) 101-81; D Gangwani (+45) bt U Barwe (+50) 115-85; R Chandan/ R Gupta (+29) bt J Thomas/ C Singh (+32) 67-55). KG ‘Legends’ bt PCL ‘Beach Boys’ 3-1 (I S Chadha (SCR) bt A Sankhala (+45) 100-75; F Khan (SCR) bt V Gehani (+40) 89-65; N Saigal/ D Khubchandani (+17) lost A Sapru/ S Sharma (+23) 39-67; I S Chadha (SCR) bt V Gehani (+40) 119(51)-44)
- FPJ Sports Desk
