Matunga Gym’s Adani downs Khandwala 4-3
Rajeev Adani of Matunga Gymkhana showed plenty of resilience and a cool temperament which helped him earn a hard-fought 4-3 win against Raj Khandwala of Cricket Club of India in an absorbing best-of-7 frame third round match of the Matunga Gymkhana 6-Red Open Snooker Tournament 2018, sponsored and hosted by Matunga Gymkhana, under the auspices of BSAM and played at the gymkhana’s billiards hall.
Both Adani and Khandwala were engaged in keen tussle for supremacy, which witnessed a close finish. The Matunga cueist Adani opened with a break of 24 as he went on to win the first two frames and after conceding the third, he did well to pocket the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. Khandwala not prepared to give in without putting up a fight, won the next two frames to level scores at 3-all and take the match to the wire. The decider was a close affair as nerves seemed to get to both players. However, Adani managed keep his cool and clinched a close seventh frame to earn a 44(24 break)-17, 40-13, 25-34, 59-14, 30-41, 27-52 and 24-21 victory.
Percy Patel of Matunga Gymkhana also won a long drawn battle against Omar Farooqui of Aurangabad, by pulling off a close 4-3 victory. In a match of fluctuating fortunes, Patel managed to win a crucial sixth frame to level scores and that gave him to confidence to go on to win the deciding seventh frame to clinch victory, with the frame scores reading 40-24, 8-33, 2033, 32-1, 16-34, 34-7 and 40-8 in his favour and to join Adani in the fourth round.
Meanwhile, Anand Raghuvanshi of P.J. Hindu Gymkhana was on song and with some notable efforts breezed to a 4-0 win over Jagdish Khade of Thane. Raghuvanshi produced an impressive performance and with steady and consistent potting had breaks of 22, 27, 20 and 25 in each of the four frames and quickly wrapped up the contest, winning at 4915, 42-11, 27-18, 33-28.