Gandhi secures Otters ‘Rockets’ passage into quarters
Otters Club cueist Abhimanyu Gandhi once again produced encouraging performances to fashion defending champions Otters ‘Rockets’ passage to the quarter-final round of the Otters Club BSAM Mumbai Z3-Snooker League 2018, at Otters Club Billiards Room. Gandhi played the lead role to perfection as he twice defeated Rajeev Sharma, first the first 15red singles opening frame and again in the fourth frame to shape the fortunes of his team’s 3-1 win against Malabar Hill Club’s MHCL ‘Madcaps’ in a pre-quarter-final match.
On an adjacent table, Radio Club budding sensation, Shahyan Razmi continued to shine bright as Radio ‘Fusion’ overpowered Chembur Gymkhana’s CG ‘Titans’ by a quick 3-0 margin in another last 16 encounter.
Gandhi (+15) with a cool calculated approach outshone Malabar Hill’s seasoned cueist Sharma (+40) winning the first frame by a 106-78 points margin to provide Otters the early advantage. Later, Otters Club skipper Zenul Arsiwala and doubles partner Nabil Lakdawala (+24) were in control against the Malabar Hill duo of Anshuman Loyalka and Nitin Banka (+33) and pulled through by a 80-53 scoreline in the 9-red doubles frame to extend Ottters’ lead to 2-0.
Later, Adil Engineer (+60) up against Rishabh Thakkar (+20) took full advantage of the 40 points handicap as he kept it simple and with some clever play managed to score a 96-72 win in the 15-red singles third frame for Malabar Hill’s first win and to cut Otters lead to 2-1.
Otters Rockets did not waste too much time to wrap up the contest as Gandhi stamped his authority with another polished effort to hand Sharma a 92-75 defeat in fourth frame.
Results - Round 16: Radio ‘Fusion’ beat CG ‘Titans’ 3-0 (Anees Jumani (+35) bt Dhiraj Kamble (+55) 123-103, Shahyan Razmi (+40) bt Megh Shah (+45) 93-74, Rayaan Razmi/Anuj Mahajan (+20) bt Calvin Monteiro/Nikhil Lalwani (+32) 77-47).
Otters ‘Rockets’ beat MHCL ‘Madcaps’ 3-1 (Abhimanyu Gandhi (+15) bt Rajeev Sharma (+40) 106-78, Zenul Arsiwala/Nabil Lakdawala (+24) bt Anshuman Loyalka/Nitin Banka (+33) 80-53, Rishabh Thakkar (+20) lost Adil Engineer (+60) 72-96, Abhimanyu Gandhi (+15) bt Rajeev Sharma (+40) 92-75).