12-year-old Shahyan Razmi advances into second round

Mumbai youngster Shahyan Razmi of Radio Club showed plenty of promise and good potting skills as he went to record a commendable 3-1 win against Yogesh Sharma of Pune in a best-of-five frame first round match of the Rs 12.25 lakh prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2018, win, at the CCI’s Wilson Jones Billiards Room.

The 12-year-old Shahyan, a class seven student of St. Mary’s ISC Schools, Mazagon, played confidently and steadily to cut down to size his senior rival from Pune. The lefthanded Shahyan easily won the first frame, but seemed to have lost his focus in the second, which Sharma won comfortably. However, Shahyan, quickly regained his composure and went on to pocket the next two frames to complete a well-deserved 77-29, 9-68, 60-22, 61-51 victory and a passage to the second round.

Sidhraj Shah of Cricket Club of India looked completely comfortable playing on his home tables and quickly deposed off Pune’s Chintamani Jadhav win in straight frame 3-0 (59-39, 64-51, 48-10) in another first round contest.

Meanwhile outstation cueists, Liyakat Ali Shaikh from Solapur and Siddhesh Mulay from Chiplun, both enjoyed successful first round outings. Shaikh was in complete control against Jaydeep Soni of Gujarat and posted a 30 (53-9, 78-23, 76-16) win, while Mulay also had things much his own way and easily defeated Sachit Jamgaonkar of Pune 3-0 (64-26, 61-35, 62-33) to advance to the second round.

In another match, Harmehr Mago of Khar Gymkhana recovered well after dropping the first frame to put it across Hitesh Kotwani of Hindu Gymkhan by a 3-1 margi.