Snooker: Otters ‘Rockets’ to clash against Radio ‘Tigers’ in final
Defending champs Otters ‘Rockets’ and strong challengers Radio ‘Tigers’ convincingly won their semi-final encounters to set up a clash for the top honours in the Otters Club BSAM Mumbai Z3-Snooker League at Otters Club Billiards Room.
Abhimanyu Gandhi’s return to winning form and Rishabh’s Thakkar’s impressive steady play helped Otters Club win the first two frames which laid the foundation for their success. Later, the consistent performances of skipper Zenul Arsiwala, who in the company of Nabil Lakdawala, managed to pocket the third, 9-red doubles, frame to complete a breeze past Andheri Recreation Club team ARC ‘Cheetahs’ 3-0 in a semi-final.
In the other semi-final, Vimal Mariwal continued with his inspiring and exciting potting abilities and he once again dished out match-winning efforts in both his frames, which was instrumental in Radio Club’s Tigers coasting to a 3-1 win against Khar Gymkhana’s young team KG ‘C’ on the side table.
Otters Club’s key player Gandhi, who had earlier lost both his frames in the team’s 3-2 win against BG ‘Phantoms’ in the quarter-finals, regained his form. Gandhi, playing with a low handicap of +10 against Akshay Vasani +55 handicap, came up with a fighting performance and after conceding some negative points initially trailed by over 60 points. But, with his fine potting skills he constructed a tidy break of 35 points and other smaller efforts to cut down Vasani’s lead and with just the last few colours remaining he took control before potting the brown and the pink to score 80-68 win in the opening, 15-red singles frame.
Later, Thakkar (+20) with some clever tactical play knocked the fight out of the Andheri Club’s captain Karan Anand (+20) and romped to a facile 89-34 win in the 15-red singles, second frame.
The home side seemed to be in a hurry as they combined well to also win the 9-red doubles, third frame. Arsiwala and Lakdawala (+21) capitalized on the missed opportunities of their opponents Om Sawant and Tarun Kalra (+29) to snatch a 66-47 win and wrap up the match in their favour.