9-Red Open Handicap Snooker Tournament 2017
Thakkar rallies from brink of defeat to advance into semis
16-Mar-2017
Nikhil Saigal
Mumbai: Rishabh Thakkar (+14 handicap) pulled a rabbit out of the hat. Facing elimination after going down 0-3, Thakkar bounced back in valiant style to edge out Dhairya Bhandari (+10 handicap) by a 4-3 scoreline in an exciting best-of-7 frames quarter-final match of the Matunga Gymkhana 9-Red Open Handicap Snooker Tournament 2017, which is sponsored and hosted by Matunga Gymkhana and played at the gymkhana’s billiards hall.
Bhandari was steady from the start and managed to pick up some small breaks which helped him to win the first three frames and race to an encouraging 3-0 lead. However, Thakkar showing the fire in the belly and with a never-say-die attitude started to find his touch and with clever and calculated play managed to successfully take the remaining four frames to record a thrilling 34-59, 31-61, 33-53, 61-12, 61-49, 55-19, 62-11 win and book a place in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Yasin Merchant and Himanshu Jain, the two players with the smallest handicaps of +3, comfortably won their quarter-final matches to set a meeting the semi-finals.
The former two-time Asian Snooker champion, Yasin did not do anything spectacular in scoring a 4-1 win against Arun Agrawal, who was clearly not at his best. The Khar Gym cueist, who was on fire in the earlier round, could only manage one decent break of 33 in the first frame as he finished off with a 68(33)-21, 65-34, 54-36, 25-56, 66-36 win.
In contrast Jain outplayed Manav Panchal (+10) by dashing off to a fluent 4-0 victory. Jain had good efforts of 25 and 26 in the first frame, 44 in the third and a tidy break of 21 in the fourth to close the match winning at (66(25,26)-24, 48-28, 57(44)-11, 57(21)-26).
Nikhil Saigal (+14) completed the semi-final line-up with a 4-1 win against Rovin D'Souza (+10). Saigal shared the first two frames with D’Souza, but later won the next three to complete a 75(25)-22, 31-59, 56(37)-13, 79(27)-25, 54-16 win.
Results – (Pre-quarter-finals): Nikhil Saigal (+14) bt Tushar Pankhania (+24) 4-3 (38(20)-65(25),39-59, 75(30)-32, 61(27)-57, 59-65, 61-28, 65(30)-33); Dhariya Bhandari (+10) bt Harmehr Mago (+24) 4-3 (83(55-31)-24, 11-74, 11-78(26,28), 37-65, 71(45)-24, 60-40, 56-31); Rishabh Thakkar (+14) bt Rayaan Razmi (+24) 4-1 (66(47)-24, 70-63, 54-40, 59-23, 61-52).
Quarter-finals: Yasin Merchant (+3) bt Arun Agrawal (+18) 4-1 (68(33)-21, 65-34, 54-36, 25-56, 66-36); Himanshu Jain (+3) bt Manav Panchal (+10) 4-0 (66(25,26)-24, 48-28, 57(44)-11, 57(21)-26); Nikhil Saigal (+14) bt Rovin D'Souza (+10) 4-1 (75(25)-22, 31-59, 56(37)-13, 79(27)-25, 54-16); Rishabh Thakkar (+14) bt Dhairya Bhandari (+10) 4-3 (34-59, 31-61, 33-53, 61-12, 61-49, 55-19, 62-11).