Allahabad’s Vinayak wins first leg of snooker ranking
Allahabad’s Vinayak Agarwal scored a thrilling 4-3 win against Akshay Kumar to win the first-leg of the UP State 1st Ranking Snooker Tournament here.
Last year’s state no 2 Vinayak got the sweet taste of revenge as he ousted Akshay Kumar in the seven frame final. Though after being down 3-0 Akshay showed some sign of life as he pulled back winning the next two, making the score line 2-3. Even the sixth frame went down the wire as it all came down to Vinayak needing the pink and Akshay needing both the pink and black but as luck would have it Vinayak while playing a safety fluked the pink in center pocket thus ending Akshay’s challenge.
But what was most encouraging about the tournament were the performances of 18-year-old cueist Mandeep Singh and veteran cueist Rajeev Tilara. Both lost their semi-final matches but played some extraordinary snooker throughout the tournament.
Mandeep’s break of 80 against Vinayak in the semi-final match was the highest of the tournament and Rajeev’s ouster of Kankan Shamsi in the quarter finals were the highlights of the event. Now the ranking tournaments move to Moradabad, where the second leg starts on November 22.
RESULTS
Final: Vinayak Agarwal by Akshay Kumar 4-2 (74-26, 47-30, 67-28, 38-53, 23-60. 60-49). Semi-finals: Vinayak Agarwal bt Mandeep Singh 4-2 (61-17, 29-65, 1-106 (80), 52-43, 73-3, 73-12); Akshay Kumar bt Rajeev Tilara 4-1 (43-69, 66-43, 62-11, 58-13, 70-1). PMS TRIUMPH Police Modern School (PMS) defeated ramswaroop School by 4-3 in tie-break to win the InterSchool Football Tournament, at the Chowk stadium here on Sunday. None of the side could break the ice during the 90-minute duel. Sanjay, Summit, Vishal and Shoib scored for the winners, whereas Vinayak, Divyanshu and Abhishek netted for the losers. THRILLING VICTORY Tewariganj Cricket Club (TCC) scored a thrilling two-wicket win against Sunrisers in the Babu Jaganath Singh Memorial Cricket Tournament, at the KK Singh Ground here in Chinhat on Sunday. Needing 86 to win in 15 overs, TCC romped home in 14.3 overs with two wickets in hand. Rakesh Singh struck highest 37. In other match of the day, Anora Kala XI defeated Lucknow Lions Club by three wickets. LLC scored 91 while batting first after winning the toss. Sunny took a hattrick. In reply, Anora Club with the help of a fine 34 by Rahul and 22 by Ankit, reached home quite comfortable. On Monday, Prashant XI meet CID, whereas Aradhya Club take on Eleven Star.