BSAM PRESENTS THE CHEMBUR GYMKHANA BILLIARDS LEAGUE 2017
Gritty Carl Serrao leads Catholic Gym into final
05-Jul-2017
Carl Serrao
Mumbai: A resilient Car Serrao, hogged all the attention as he produced another terrific, gutsy performance to come from behind to overcome Chandu Kansodaria in the match-deciding third frame which helped Catholic Decapitare (Catholic Gymkhana) + 120 handicap, to turn things around and snatch a tight 621-611 victory over MCF ‘Tough Men’ (Mandpeshwar Civic Federation) +55 handicap in an exciting semi-final match of the BSAM-The Chembur Gymkhana Billiards League 2017, and played at The Chembur Gymkhana billiards hall, late on Wednesday evening.
Catholic Gymkhana will take on MG ‘Partysipants’ (Matunga Gymkhana) in the final. Matunga Gymkhana +35 handicap got the better of KG ‘Four & Half Men’ (Khar Gymkhana) -65 handicap 442-370 in the second semi-final. Seasoned pro Devendra Joshi and Ankit Thakkar, both came up with winning performances as Matunga Gymkhana fought back after losing the first frame to clinch the win.
Kansodria (+30 handicap), who needed to score 197 points as against 200 by Serrao (+40 handicap), played fluently from the start and managed some small breaks, which included a run of 43, to open up a healthy 145-36 lead. But, that lead did not rattle, Serrao, who did well to keep his cool and composure and keep fighting. Serrao, possessing a never-say-die attitude gradually found his rhythm and with clever selection of shots he compiled a couple of small but significant breaks to steadily keep chipping away at the lead and went on to narrow the deficit to 154-95.
Having gained in confidence, Serrao finally rolled in a 54 effort, which proved to be decisive as it helped cut the lead to just 14 points (163-149). Thereafter, Kansodaria came under tremendous pressure missing some relatively simple shots. On the other hand, Serrao, who marginally nosed ahead (187-185) stayed focused in those tense moments towards the end and managed to pull through.
Earlier, Catholic Gym’s skipper Derek Sippy and Melwyn Mascarenhas both played good supporting roles. Mascarenhas (+30) recovered to defeat Mehul Sutaria (+65) 200-168 in the first frame and later Sippy (+50) did well to score a little over 100 points before losing to fancied Rohan Jambusaria (-40), who constructed a break of 97 to clinch a 200-101 verdict in the second frame.
Results (semi-finals):
MG ‘Partysipants’ (+35) beat KG ‘Four & Half Men’ (-65) - 442-370 : (Shailesh Rao (+70) lost to Rishbah Thakkar -60) 55-200; Ankit Thakkar (+45) bt Sparsh Pherwani (+40) 200-107; Devendra Joshi (-80) bt Ishpreet Singh Chada (-45) 152-128).
CG ‘Decapitare’ (+120) beat MCF ‘Tough Men’ (+55) - 621-611 : (Melwyn Mascarenhas (+30) bt Mehul Sutaria (+65) 200-169; Derek Sippy (+50) lost to Rohan Jambusaria (-40) 101-200(97); Carl Serrao (+40) bt Chandu Kansodaria (+30) 200-187).