MCF teams snatch thrilling wins
Mandpeshwar Civic Federation (MCF) teams, MCF ‘Dark Knights’ and MCF ‘Tough Men’, both enjoyed a successful day as they pulled off stunning victories to advance to the quarter-final round of the Chembur Gymkhana Billiards League 2017.
Starting with a modest +55 handicap, MCF ‘Tough Men’ were well served by skipper Rohan Jambusaria and Chandu Kasodaria, as both rose to the challenge with superb match-winning efforts to steer the team to a 612-568 victory over DPCG ‘Kamakazee’ (Dadar Parsee Colony Gymkhana) +225 handicap, in a pre-quarter-final match. On the side table, MCF ‘Dark Knights’, +210 handicap, escaped to victory by clinching a crucial win in the third frame to put it across home team CG ‘Gladiators’, -10 handicap, by a narrow 488-462 scoreline.
MCF ‘Tough Men’ had a bad start when Sanchit Ghemavat (+65) lost to H. Irani (+80) 157-200. But in the second frame, Rohan Jambusaria (40) up against Rushad Patel (+65) got into a groove instantly and on his first visit to the table rolled in a break of 94. A couple of visits later he ran up another break of 73 to wrap up the frame at 200- 29 and to keep his team in the hunt to victory. In the third frame, MCF’s Chandu Kansodaria (+30) did not disappoint and with some steady play was in control against C. Kayani (+80), who had to score 150 points to win the tie for the Dadar side. Kansodaria did well to manage some small useful breaks which helped him to race to a 200-114 win and seal the win for his team.
Playing on their home tables, Chembur Gymkhana started with a -10 handicap but, they quickly wrested the initiative with Loukic Pathare (-20) defeating Akshay Gogri (+70) by 200-54 points. Later, senior pro Vishal Madan (-60) tamed Amit Joshi (+80) winning by a massive 200-24 points margin in the second frame to consolidate the advantage. In the third frame, Sagar Madan (+70) had to score only 98 points against Avenish Shah (+60) to secure Chembur Gymkhana’s win. But, he was totally nervous and lacked confidence as he missed some simple shots and was unable to get going. On the other hand, Avenish also struggled a bit, but with some tidy breaks he managed to accumulate the points to come through at 20072 and clinch a close victory.