“Otters BSAM Snooker League 2018 styled by Z3”
Laxman Rawat inspires Phantoms to victory
27-Jul-2018
Laxman Rawat
Mumbai: Laxman Rawat stole the thunder with a magnificent showing, which inspired Bombay Gymkhana’s BG ‘Phantoms’ to a convincing 3-1 win against the much-fancied Khar Gymkhana team KG ‘A’ in the pre-quarter-finals of the Otters Club BSAM Mumbai Z3-Snooker League 2018, at Otters Club Billiards Room. Rawat was in prime form and scored creditable wins against Khar Gym’s strongmen Ishpreet Singh Chadha in the opening frame and then uncorked a neat 70 break to subdue Yasin Merchant in the fourth frame, which sealed Bombay Gymkhana’s win and a passage into the quarter-finals.
In the 15-red first singles frame, Rawat and Chadha both playing with a scratch handicaps, were tentative and cautious in their approach as a result there was not a single good effort. But, Rawat who managed to stitch together a couple of tiny runs went on to pocket the frame 58-29 to put Phantoms in the lead. Nitesh Madan (+15) was unable to carry Bombay Gym’s winning momentum as he succumbed to pressure against two-time Asian snooker champ Yasin Merchant (scratch) and lost 23-75.
However, Bombay Gym’s seasoned doubles pair of Marzdi Kalyaniwala and Kaizad Fitter (+17) put to good advantage their vast experience and overcame the Khar Gym’s young combination of Nikhil Saigal and Sparsh Pherwani (+12) 56-44 in the 9-red doubles third frame and regain the lead. Rawat returned to the table for the fourth frame and was fortunate that Yasin missed a black pot. He seized the chance and finished with a flourish by running up a break of 70 to wrap up the frame and the match in Bombay Gym’s favour.
Earlier in a Round of 32 match, Dadar Club ‘Fighters’ cruised past MBPT Sports ‘Potalyst’ by a 3-0 margin. The Dadar Club side was dominant from the start and Luv Boricha (+45) overcame MBPT’s Naresh Kamble (+50) by a 10-5-95 scoreline in the 15-red singles frames. Later, Carl Serrao (+45) comfortably defeated Sanjeev Shrivastav (+50) 108-91 in the second 15-red singles frame to increase the lead. Dadar Club finished things off when their doubles combination of Gaurav Jaisinghani and Pankaj Vanjari (+21) pulled off an easy 74-33 win against Rajan Phatak and Mangesh Gurav in 9-red doubles tie.
Results - Round 16: BG ‘Phantoms’ beat KG ‘A’ 3-1 (Laxman Rawat (scr) bt Ishpreet Singh Chadha (scr) 58-29, Nitesh Madan (+15) lost Yasin Merchant (scr) 23-75, Kaizad Fitter/Marzdi Kalyaniwala (+17) bt Nikhil Saigal/Sparsh Pherwani (+12) 56-44, Laxman Rawat bt Yasin Merchant 79-9).
Round 32: Dadar Club ‘Fighters’ beat MBPT Sports ‘Potalyst’ 3-0 (Luv Boricha (+45) bt Naresh Kamble (+50) 105-95, Carl Serrao (+45) bt Sanjeev Shrivastav (+50) 108-91, Gaurav Jaisinghani/Pankaj Vanjari (+21) bt Rajan Phatak/Mangesh Gurav (+30) 74-33).