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Aditya Mehta

Aditya Mehta of Indian Oil produced another steady performance to get the better of Maharashtra’s Vishal Madan by 300-203 points in a low-scoring Group-B league match of Rs 3.8 lakhs prize-money CCI Billiards Classic 2018, organized by the Cricket Club of India and played at the Club’s Sir Wilson Jones Billiards Room, Churchgate on Wednesday.

The match was a tame contest as there were not many substantial breaks from both players. But, Aditya who was a bit more consistent managed to pull through. The tall Mumbai player, who been playing in the pro snooker circuit in UK till last year, now has two wins under his belt and stays in contention of advancing to the knockout phase (round of 16) of the competition. He has a match against Nikhil Ghadge who has lost both his matches in the four-player group. The result of the concluding group match between Madan and Rishabh Thakkar of Maharashtra will decide who along with Mehta will advance to the next round.

Former World Champion, Rupesh Shah of ONGC stamped his class to finish with an-win win record as he put it across Maharashtra’s Rohan Jambusaria 278-236 in a closely fought Group-C match. Jambusaria finished in second place behind Rupesh and both have sealed their place in the next round.

Former two-time Asian Champion, Dhruv Sitwala of ONGC, continued with his impressive winning streak and defeated Arun Agrawal of Maharashtra to also register his third win in Group-H and confirm his place in the round of 16.

Meanwhile, Dhvaj Haria of Indian Oil and seasoned cueist Ashok Shandilya of Railways both won their second round of league matches and look certain to progress to the pre-quarters. The lanky Haria, who had beaten home challenger Hasan Badami on Tuesday, turned out another steady display and with half century breaks of 56 and 57 he managed to overcome Maharashtra’s Rajeev Sharma 352-307.

The former World champion Shandilya did not have to push hard and still came through against Delhi’s Sandeep Gulati 336-298.

Results – Group-A: Dhvaj Haria (IOC) beat Hasan Badami 398(95,56)-271(70);

Dhvaj Haria beat Rajeev Sharma (Mah) 352(56,57)-307;

Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) beat Sandeep Gulati (Del) 336-298;

Group-B: Rishabh Thakkar (Mah) beat Nikhil Ghadge (Rlys) 319(69,48)-250(44);

Aditya Mehta (IOC) beat Vishal Madan (Mah) 300-203;

Group-C: Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) beat V. Subramanian (Mah) 307-293;

Rupesh Shah (ONGC) beat Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) 278(49,47)-236(73,61);

Group-E: Manan Chandra (PSPB) beat Loukic Pathare (Mah) 456(62,61)-276(77);

S. Simhachalam beat Manan Chandra (BPCL) 360(71)-284;

Group-F: K. Venkatesh (Rlys) beat Hitesh Kotwani (Mah) 427(87,72,54)-276;

Devendra Joshi (BPCL) beat Raj Khandwala (Mah) 498 (77,69,68,53)-357(63).

Group-G: Rishabh Kumar (Mah) beat Nalin Patel (Mah) 370(54,64,58)-369(58,56,56);

Group-H: Arun Agrawal (Mah) beat Nishant Dossa (Mah) 284(58)-270.

Dhruv Sitwala (ONGC) beat Arun Agrawal (Mah) 499 (92,76,73)-220.