MCF Open Handicap Billiards Tournament 2016
Parikh, Bapat scrape through
Last yea'rs runner-up Siddharth Parikh and Sanket Bapat of Shivaji Park Gymkhana narrowly scraped into the knock out pre-quarter-finals, in the state level MCF Open Billiards Tournament, at the Mandpeshwar Civic Federation, Borivali on Tuesday.
Parikh, of PJ Hindu Gymkhana, who has so far hit two double century and five century breaks, finished second in Group A behind topper Rishabh Kumar of Bombay Gymkhana, at the expense of MIG’s Prabdeep Singh who had to restrict Catholic Gymkhana’s Melwin Mascarenhas to below 180 points in their concluding round robin tie. While achieving his target of 345 points, Singh failed to restrict Mascarenhas following a 345-251 win.
Bapat also finished second behind Group G topper Rohan Jambusaria of MCF following a crucial win over MIG’s Ninad Borkar. Bapat, playing with a handicap of -60, also had to restrict elite cueist Vishal Madan of Chembur Gymkhana below 530 points in their concluding tie, while Madan, playing with a handicap of -450, had to restrict Bapat to below 90 to qualify. Bapat achieved his target following a 250-37 win over Madan.
Aditya Agrawal of PJ Hindu Gymkhana topped a complex Group H with a win over Shekhar Surve of Shivaji Park Gymkhana who finished second to qualify with a better average. Defending champion Nalin Patel of Bombay Gymkhana, who hit a 254 break, and Rovin D’Souza of PJ Hindu Gymkhana made it from Group D, while 12-time state champion Arun Agrawal qualified from Group E.
Results: Group A: Siddharth Parikh (PJ Hindu Gym) bt Rishabh Kumar (Bombay Gym) 900(240,114)-330; Prabdeep Singh (MIG) bt Siddharth Parikh 250-145(119,113); Rishabh Kumar bt Prabdeep Singh 380-235; Prabdeep Singh bt Melwin Mascarenhas (Catholic Gym) 345-251.
Group D: Nalin Patel (Bombay Gym) bt Rovin D’Souza (PJ Hindu Gym) 850(132,254)-310.
Group E: Arun Agrawal (Matunga Gym) bt Mahadev Bhogle (JVPG) 800(255)-278.
Group F: Ronnie Daruwala (PJ Hindu Gym) bt Sanchit Gemavat (MCF) 355-247.
Group G: Sanket Bapat (SPG) bt Ninad Borkar (MIG) 310-236; Sanket Bapat bt Vishal Madan (Chembur) 310-480.
Group H: Aditya Agrawal (PJ Hindu Gym) bt Shekhar Surve (SPG) 700(151,125)-287.