CCI Kekoo Nicholson BSAM Billiards League 2018.
Nicholson Boys, Jugglers march into quarter-finals
03-May-2018
Asutosh Padhy
Mumbai: CCI ‘Nicholson Boys’ (handicap 125) took optimum advantage of the home conditions to sideline CRMI ‘Star Blue’ (handicap 100) as they cruised to a fluent 600-277 victory in a pre-quarter-final match, of the ‘CCI Kekoo Nicholson BSAM Billiards League 2018 and played at the CCI Wilson Jones Billiards Room.
Nicholson Boys who enjoyed a 25 points advantage were provided a great start by Raj Khandwala (+30) who compiled a break of 61 to overcome Nikhil Gadge (+25) 200-152 in the first frame. Khandwala’s win by 48 points margin increased Nicholson’s Boys advantage to 73 points. In the second frame, CCI’s Kanishk Jhanjaria (+30) defeated Shekhar Surve (+20) by an 89 points margin 200-111 to further swell Nicholson’s Boys advantage. Having gained a 162 points cushion Pranav Todi (+65) was left with a simple task of scoring just 38 points against Sunil Gadge (+55) in the third frame and he easily achieved his target.
Meanwhile, Asutosh Padhy stole the thunder with a neatly crafted 102 break in leading JVPG ‘Jugglers’ to a facile 600-420 points win against JVPG ‘Juhu Tigers’ in another last 16 encounter. Both the JVPG teams went into the match with an identical 100 points handicap, but Padhy (-20 handicap) quickly got into a groove and rolled in the century effort as he went on to outplay Dhairya Bhandari (+40) 200-51 in the opening frame and to give Jugglers a sizeable 149 points advantage. But, Juhu Tigers’ came roaring back in the second frame when seasoned cueist Chandresh Shah (scratch) got the better of Harvinder Nagi (+50) by a 200-147 points to marginally cut the deficit. But, Sanjiv Shah was left with a target of scoring just 104 points, as compared to the 200 points Manvir Singh Sohal required for victory. Shah (+70) played steadily and managed to score the required number of points to seal Jugglers win and a passage to the quarter-finals.
In other matches, MCF ‘Tough Men’ (15) defeated MCF ‘Dark Knights’ (200) 600-385 and ECC ‘Elfies Thunderbolts’ (90) tamed NIA ‘Quarterpillars’ (225) 600-279.
Results – Pre-quarter-finals: JVPG ‘Jugglers’ (handicap 100) beat JVPG ‘Juhu Tigers’ (handicap 100) 600-420 (Asutosh Padhy (-20) bt Dhairya Bhandari (+40) 200(102)-51, Harvinder Nagi (+50) lost Chandresh Shah (SCR) 147-200, Sanjiv Shah (+70) bt Manvir Singh Sohal (+60) 104-169).
MCF ‘Tough Men’ (15) beat MCF ‘Dark Knights’ (200) 600-385 (Chandu Kansodaria (+20) bt Amit J. 200-163(46), Rohan Jambusaria (-60) bt Vatsal Ponda (+70) 200-75, Mehul Sutaria (+55) bt Dharmesh Mistry (+60) 200(47)-147).
CCI ‘Nicholson Boys (125) beat CRMI ‘Star Blue’ (100) 600-277 (Raj Khandwala (+30) bt Nikhil Gadge (+25) 200(61)-152, Kanishk Jhanjaria (+30) bt Shekhar Surve (+20) 200-111, Pranav Todi (+65) bt Sunil Gadge (+55) 38-14).
ECC ‘Elfies Thunderbolts’ (90) beat NIA ‘Quarterpillars’ (225) 600-279 (Rayaan Razmi(+40) bt Rajan Gupta (+75) 200-103, Anurag Bagri (+40) bt Hardik Vyas (+70) 200-120, Farhad Tengra (+10) bt Manjit Singh Bhoomer (+80) 158-56)..