The CCI Open Snooker Tournament 2018
Youngster Sumehr overcome Ootam to advance into third round
08-Feb-2018
Sumehr Mago (KG)
Mumbai, February 8: Mumbai’s talented upcoming 13-year-old youngster Sumehr Mago of Khar Gymkhana stood tall as he showed steely nerves and great temperament to record a sensational 3-2 win over the experienced Nikhil Ootam of Cricket Club of India in the best-of-five frame second round contest of the Rs 12.25 lakh prize-money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship 2018, and played at the CCI’s Wilson Jones Billiards Room, on Thursday.
Sumehr, a student of Podar international school, maintained a calm, cool composure even after Ootam started with a flourish by rolling a steady break of 64 in winning the first frame. The Khar Gym cueist made a perfect reply by winning a close second frame. But, Ootam playing in familiar surroundings managed to nose ahead for the second time by pocketing the third frame and once again the youngster managed to level frame scores by taking the fourth to push the match to the decider.
In the fifth frame, both players had their fair share of chances, but missed some regulation pots as the lead changed hands a couple of times. With only the last five colours remaining, Ootam did well to pocket the green and was lucky to pocket the brown which went in off the blue to marginally go ahead at 61-52. But he faltered on a not-too-easy long blue to the bottom pocket. The adventurous Sumehr with a thin slice did well to pot a difficult blue which was close to the bottom cushion and the cue ball came perfectly for the pink which he sank and also the black to clinch a satisfying 13-70, 46-37, 21-69, 63-42, 70-61win and a passage to the third round.
Pune’s Sahil Gadiya powered his way past Vishal Gehani of Park Club by a convincing 3-0 margin. Gadiya potted confidently and consistently to overcome the Mumbai cueist Gehani 62-29, 57-16, 72-70, winning the third on the black.
Meanwhile, Rishabh Thakkar of Otters Club and Ishpreet Singh of Khar Gymkhana also advanced to the third round. Thakkar got the better of Shubham Randhe of Elphinstone CC 3-1 (42-31, 26-64, 66-3, 65-32), while Ishpreet fired a break of 52 in the third frame on way to a 3-1 win agsint Sahil Karnani with the frame scores reading 25-66, 66-13, 77-8, 72-20 in favour of the Khar Gym cueist.
Results – second round: Aditya Bhalla (Del) bt Sumit Ahuja (Ulhasnagar) 3-2 (11-50, 52-42, 57-62, 59-19, 48-39);
Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Khar Gym) bt Sahil Karnani 3-1 (25-66, 66-13, 77(52)-8, 72-20);
Sagar Desai (NSCI) bt Poras Shah (Matunga Gym) 3-1 (32-51, 60-52, 74-39, 59-19);
Rafu Sheikh (TLGN) bt Kishore Laungani (Khar Gym) 3-1 (49-40, 25-83, 65-33, 51-39);
Abhijeet Ranade (Pune) bt Omar Ahmed Farooqui (BSAA) 3-2 (25-54, 65-1, 18-59, 77(54)-26, 67-18);
Rishabh Thakkar (Otters Club) bt Shubham Randhe (ECC) 3-1 (42-31, 26-64, 66-3, 65-32)
Sahil Gadiya (Pune) bt Vishal Gehani (PCL) 3-0 (62-29, 57-16, 72-70);
Sumehr Mago (Khar Gym) bt Nikhil Ootam (CCI) 3-2 (13-70(64), 46-37, 21-69, 63-42, 70-61); Johnson (Gujarat) bt Siddharth Kemani (CCI) 3-0 (52-38, 69-5, 72-23); M.D.Hussain (Rly) bt Mayank Daga (Andheri) 3-0 (68-6, 56-39, 61-26).