Pune cueist Saad Sayed stole the thunder rolling a superb break of 94, currently the highest in the tournament, and went onto outshine home challenger Sameer Gupta 3-0 (71-24, 53-37, and 94-0) victory in a best-of-5-frame round-2 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 Friday.
Meanwhile, CCI member Siddharth Khemani played well and grabbed his chances to prevail over Mitesh Thakkar 3-0 (58-37, 63-42, and 50-29) and advance to the third round.
Saad’s city mate Taaha Khan also enjoyed smooth sailing and cruised past Rehan Patel winning in three quick frames winning at 3-0 (66-40, 61-23, and 62-2).
Another Pune player Gaurav Deshmukh staved off a spirited fight back from local challenger Abhishek Bajaj posting a 4-3 (71-14, 61-47, 67-26, 37-50, 41-71, 29-53, and 68-47) victory to qualify for the main draw.
Abdur Rehman also qualified for the main draw as he managed to get the better of Ejaz Merchant 4-3 (59-20, 53-17, 60-69, 47-55, 20-46, 60-43, and 65-0) in another final qualifying round match.
Results – Final qualifying round: Abdur Rehman bt Ejaz Merchant 4-3 (59-20, 53-17, 60-69, 47-55, 20-46, 60-43, 65-0); Shoaib Khan bt Darshan Shah 4-1 (57-27, 57(40)-13, 72(56)-23, 2-66, 52-29); Gaurav Deshmukh bt Abhishek Bajaj 4-3 (71(45)-14, 61-47, 67-26, 37-50, 41-71, 29-53, 68-47); Neeraj Kumar bt Uddeshey Sethi 4-0 (86-1, 74-37, 57-6, 57-12); Shivam Arora bt Amanullah Shaikh 4-0 (62-26, 71-37, 89-25, 57-42);
Round 2: Saad Sayed bt Sameer Gupta 3-0 (71-24, 53-37, 94(94)-0); Taaha Khan bt Rehan Patel 3-0 (66-40, 61-23, 62-2); Arav Sancheti bt Sanket Mutha 3-1 (53-47, 34-66, 59-53, 90-27). Siddharth Khemani bt Mitesh Thakkar 3-0 (58-37, 63-42, 50-29).
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