Rawat inspires Phantoms to victory
Laxman Rawat stole the thunder with a magnificent showing, which inspired Bombay Gymkhana’s BG ‘Phantoms’ to a convincing 31 win against the much-fancied Khar Gymkhana team KG ‘A’ in the pre-quarter-finals of the Otters Club BSAM Mumbai Z3-Snooker League, at Otters Club Billiards Room. Rawat was in prime form and scored creditable wins against Khar Gym’s strongmen Ishpreet Singh Chadha in the opening frame and then uncorked a neat 70 break to subdue Yasin Merchant in the fourth frame, which sealed Bombay Gymkhana’s win and a passage into the quarter-finals.
In the 15-red first singles frame, Rawat and Chadha both playing with a scratch handicap, were tentative and cautious in their approach as a result there was not a single good effort.
But Rawat who managed to stitch together a couple of tiny runs went on to pocket the frame 58-29 to put Phantoms in the lead. Nitesh Madan (+15) was unable to carry Bombay Gym’s winning momentum as he succumbed to pressure against two-time Asian snooker champ Yasin Merchant (scratch) and lost 23-75.
However, Bombay Gym’s doubles pair of Marzdi Kalyaniwala and Kaizad Fitter (+17) put to good advantage their vast experience and overcame the Khar Gym’s young combination of Nikhil Saigal and Sparsh Pherwani (+12) 5644 in the 9-red doubles third frame and regain the lead.
Rawat returned to the table for the fourth frame and was fortunate that Yasin missed a black pot. He seized the chance and finished with a flourish by running up a break of 70 to wrap up the frame and the match in Bombay Gym’s favour.
Earlier in a Round of 32 match, Dadar Club ‘Fighters’ cruised past MBPT Sports ‘Potalyst’ by a 3-0 margin. The Dadar Club side was dominant from the start and Luv Boricha (+45) overcame MBPT’s Naresh Kamble (+50) by a 10-5-95 scoreline in the 15-red singles frames. Later, Carl Serrao (+45) comfortably defeated Sanjeev Shrivastav (+50) 108-91 in the second 15-red singles frame to increase the lead.
Dadar Club finished things off when their doubles combination of Gaurav Jaisinghani and Pankaj Vanjari (+21) pulled off an easy 74-33 win against Rajan Phatak and Mangesh Gurav in 9-red doubles tie.
Results (Round 32): Dadar Club ‘Fighters’ beat MBPT Sports ‘Potalyst’ 3-0 (Luv Boricha (+45) bt Naresh Kamble (+50) 105-95, Carl Serrao (+45) bt Sanjeev Shrivastav (+50) 108-91, Gaurav Jaisinghani/Pankaj Vanjari (+21) bt Rajan Phatak/Mangesh Gurav (+30) 74-33).
(Round-16): BG ‘Phantoms’ beat KG ‘A’ 3-1 (Laxman Rawat (scr) bt Ishpreet Singh Chadha (scr) 58-29, Nitesh Madan (+15) lost Yasin Merchant (scr) 23-75, Kaizad Fitter/Marzdi Kalyaniwala (+17) bt Nikhil Saigal/Sparsh Pherwani (+12) 56-44, Laxman Rawat bt Yasin Merchant 79-9).