Madhya Pradesh cueist Nikhilesh Pillai potted fluently to overcome home challenger Amitesh Goenka by a 3-0 (72-10, 57-24, 57-13) win in a first round match of the Rs 12.5 lakh prize-money CCI Snooker Classic 2024, organised by the Cricket Club of India, and played at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall on Tuesday. The Jabalpur player tactfully constructed a break of 64 points in the first frame which set the tone for his success.
Seasoned campaigner Siddharth Parikh also showed great touch and rolled in 65 point break in the opening frame and went on to tame Hardik Kariya by a convincing 3-0 (89-18, 77-43, 74-10) victory in a second round encounter.
Meanwhile, Nikhil Saigal faced quite a stiff challenge from Hyderabad’s Abed Sayed and managed to scrape through by a tight 3-2 (24-64, 64-42, 62-37, 12-53, 53-48) win to advance to the third round. Saigal made a break of 49 in the third and won a close fifth to seal his win.
In third round encounters, Rajeev Sharma outshone Marzdi Kalyaniwala cruising to a quick 3-0 (66-10, 70-29, 64-39) win, while Nikhil Ghadge fought hard to put it across a spirited Samarth Vernekar snatching a 3-2 (44-77, 61-28, 27-66, 50-46, 68-38) victory.
Results – Round-1: Raj Charri bt J.N. Nagpal 3-0 (60-38, 47-41, 62-49); Samar Khandelwal bt Amit Poojari 3-0 (53-29, 64-39, 68-56); Rehan Patel bt Narendra Bhavsar 3-0 (68-34, 71-45, 72-16); Raj Shetty bt Gaurav Prabhu 3-1 (24-67, 58-19, 67-52, 58-30); Jignesh Choksi bt Arun Barve 3-2 (18-52, 46-53, 64-36, 52-16, 50-9); Md. Salim bt Monaj Kasare 3-0 (53-41, 71-17, 69-21); Sukeel Venkatramani bt Manoj Nandwani 3-0 (54-30, 75-52, 47-34); Nikhilesh Pillai (MP) bt Amitesh Goenka 3-0 (72(64)-10, 57-24, 57-13).
Round-2: Danish Khan bt Sandeep Gulrajani 3-1 (23-50, 53-22, 61-40, 50-40; Jayesh Salvi bt Suraj Veer 3-1 (68-54(46), 54-34, 19-53, 57-17); Devendra Patel bt Shafique Khatri 3-0 (60-38, 77-32, 67-1); Nikhil Saigal bt Abed Sayed (Hyd) 3-2 (24-64, 64-42, 62(49)-37, 12-53, 53-48); Siddharth Parikh bt Hardik Kariya 3-0 (89(65)-18, 77-43, 74-10).
Round-3: Rajeev Sharma bt Marzdi Kalyaniwala 3-0 (66-10, 70(37)-29, 64-39); Nikhil Ghadge bt Samarth Vernekar 3-2 (44-77, 61-28, 27-66, 50-46, 68-38).
