Shahade, Patel charge ahead
Bhushan Shahade showed remarkable consistency with his pots and hardly put a foot wrong during his 3-0 demolition of Sahil Chavan in a first round match of the Matunga Gymkhana 9-Red Open Handicap Snooker Tournament 2017, which is sponsored and hosted by Matunga Gymkhana and played at the gymkhana’s billiards hall.
Playing with a handicap of +32 Shahade was untroubled by his opponent Sahil Chavan (+35) who was a bit subdued. Shahade compiled small but decent breaks which ensured his commanding 95-51, 91-57, 90-52 win and to move to the second round.
Percy Patel was equally impressive and defeated Sahil Khan also in straight frames at 3-0 to also march into the second round. Patel started with a +35 handicap as compared to Khan +18, and made full use of the 17 points advantage as he went on to close out a 73-37, 60-51, 62-51 victory.
Manav Panchal one of the main challenger, started with a flourish to hand Raju Adani a 3-0 defeat and send him out of the tournament. In his first round encounter, Panchal playing with a low handicap of +10 points showed his vast experience and although a slight fight at the start he managed to outlast Raju Adani (+32 handicap) and race to a 66-65, 56-51, 75-41 win.
Meanwhile, Kreishh Gurbaxani (+29) posted a tough 3-2 win against Vishal Yelve (+35) in a fiercely fought first round match. Gurbaxani won the first frame but Yelve replied by winning second and third to grab a 2-1 lead. But, Gurbaxani found his touch in the nick of time and won the fourth and fifth frame rather easily to close out the match with a 69-41, 59-74, 62-72, 78-57, 80-66 verdict in his favour.