The CCI Open Snooker Tournament 2018
Girish is second cueist to register 109 break
12-Feb-2018
Nitesh Madan (RLY)
Mumbai, February 12:
Producing a sterling performance R. Girish of Indian Railways matched the efforts of his teammate E. Pandurangaiah, when he also ran up a break of 109 during his comfortable 3-0 win against Pune’s Sahil Gadiya in a third round, best-of-five frame, match in the Rs 12.25 lakh prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2018, and played at the CCI’s Wilson Jones Billiards Room. Pandurangaiah had in his second round match notched up a break of 109, the first century effort in the competition.
Showing steady potting skills and the ability to build breaks, Girish made his intentions clear from the start rolling in a break of 40 in the first frame and then made a run of 46 in the second before wrapping up the contest with an emphatic unfinished effort of 109 to waltz to a 73-0, 63-24, 109-3 victory.
It proved to be a perfect day for Railway cueists as Nitesh Madan, Venkatesh and seasoned pro Rafat Habib, all recorded easy wins to also progress to the next round.
Madan with a bit of good fortune managed to overcome his Railway colleague M.D. Hussain in a thrilling match that went the distance. Both Madan and Hussain shared the first four frames and in the decider Hussain seemed on course towards victory as he was ahead by 16 points with only the last three colours left on the table. He did well to pot the blue in the top pocket, but while trying to get in position for the pink, the cue ball, to his dismay sank in to the bottom pocket. Nitesh grabbed the opportunity with both hands and potted the remaining three colours to clinch a satisfying win, with the frame scores reading 67-45, 21-65, 0-69, 74-43 and 64-57.
Habib blanked Vignesh Thangamanin of Panvel 3-0 (65-13, 83-1, 56-25) and Venkatesh also enjoyed a dominant win against Rishabh Amin of CCI coasting to a 3-0 (60-27. 69-45, 68-24) win.
Taaha Khan of Pune, Rajat Khaneja of Chandigarh and Niraj Vasava of Surat, also won their respective third round encounters.
Khan outplayed Karan Mangat of Vashi 3-0 (54-4, 53-24, 46-32), Khaneja who had two breaks of 52 (2nd frame & 44 4rd frame) got the better of Raj Shetye of Panvel 3-1 (73-11, 70-0, 55-60, 65-7) and Vasava prevailed over Mumbai cueist Sagar Desai 3-1 (30-56, 65-61, 72-19, 51-25).
Results – Third round: Aditya Agarwal (Matunga Gym) bt Dhawal Karia (Mulund) 3-0 (57-23, 64-45, 91-0); Manish Jain (WB) bt Harmehr Mago (Khar Gym) 3-1 (84-15, 69-30, 34-86, 54-21); Venkatesh (Rly) bt Rishabh Amin (CCI) 3-0 (60-27. 69-45, 68-24); Brajesh Damani (PSPB) bt Puru Dembla (Agra) 3-0 (58-27, 56-39, 63-34); Taaha Khan (Pune) bt Karan Mangat (Vashi) 3-0 (54-4, 53-24, 46-32); Nitesh Madan (Rly) bt M.D. Hussain (Rly) 3-2 (67-45, 21-65(44); 0-69(30), 74(56)-43, 64-57); Bharat Sissodia (MP) bt Sumehr Mago (Khar Gym) 3-0 (62-14, 71(63)-1, 65-48); Rafat Habib (Rly) bt Vignesh Thangamanin 3-0 (65-13, 83(39)-1, 56-25); Rajat Khaneja (Chd) bt Raj Shetye (Panvel) 3-1 (73-11, 70(52)-0, 55-60, 65(44)-7); R. Girish (Rly) bt Sahil Gadiya (Pune) 3-0 (73(40)-0, 63(46)-24, 109(109)-3); Paras Gupta (UP) bt Vinayak Agarwal (UP) 3-0 (85-56, 72-25, 70-36); Sundeep Gulati (Del) bt Rafu Sheikh (TLGN) 3-0 (74-21, 64-21, 73-3); Niraj Vasava (Surat) bt Sagar Desai (NSCI) 3-1 (30-56, 65-61, 72-19, 51-25); Akshay Kumar (UP) bt Vishal Vaya (Borivali) 3-0 (57-16, 104(46)-24, 70-21);