Shah, Pawar smoothly sail into 3rd round

MUMBAI: Khushit Shah of Bhiwandi and Santosh Pawar of Khar Gymkhana smoothly sailed into the third-round recording identical 4-1 wins in their respective second round, best-of-7 frames, matches of the Matunga Gymkhana 6-Red Open Snooker Tournament 2018, sponsored and hosted by Matunga Gymkhana, under the auspices of BSAM and played at the gymkhana’s billiards hall. The Bhiwandi cueist Shah started with a break of 25 in the first frame and then maintained the momentum to defeat Pramod Pol of Elphinstone CC 41 (59(25)-6, 36-24, 37-6, 14-32, 40-5). In another second-round tie, Pawar with some steady performance tamed Ibrahim Sheikh of Madpeshwar Civic Federation 4-1 (36-23, 53-6, 34-3, 1-50, 47-36). Meanwhile in first round encounters, seasoned cueist Shekhar Surve of Western Railway enjoyed a good run as he prevailed over Ankit Khokhani of Jolly Gymkhana coasting to a 4-1 (18-30, 34-32, 42(37)0, 59-26, 26-14 victory.