Malabar Hill Club Maharashtra State Selection Billiards & Snooker Tournament 2013: Gadiya upsets Agrawal

Sahil Gadiya of Deccan Gymkhana, Pune upset Arun Agrawal 3-2 in a thrilling senior snooker elite round robin tie, in the Malabar Hill Club Maharashtra State Selection Billiards & Snooker Tournament on Saturday.

Gadiya set the trend for a dramatic day of upsets when he surprised the in-form Agrawal of Matunga Gymkhana by surging to a 2-1 lead with impressive potting and positioning in a Group H tie. But Agrawal utilised his vast experience to force the decider in the best-of-five frames contest where he surged to a 42-22 lead. Gadiya narrowed the margin to 32-42 with brilliant snookers and launched a spectacular clearance from brown to black to snatch the frame 54-42 and the match.

Neel Vithlani of the host club fashioned the other upset when he rallied from a 1-2 deficit to beat Kabil Badami of Bombay Gymkhana in Group G, after winning the decider in an exciting black ball finish.

Another Pune cueist Yogesh Sharma caused the third upset of the day when he stunned junior snooker champion Jaiveer Dhingra 3-2 after leading 2-1 in Group E. Sharma later cruised to his second win when he beat Rohan Sakalkar of PYC, Pune 3-1. Sakalkar crashed to his second loss when he frittered away a 2-0 lead against Raj Khandwala of CCI.

Hasan Badami of CCI beat Farhad Tengra of Elphinstone Cricket Club 3-2 after leading 2-0. Badami opened up with a break of 33 in the first frame but relied on a timely break of 48 in the decider to win his opening Group F tie.

Arun Kumar of Thane prevailed over Mahesh Jagdale of Elphinstone CC 3-2 after winning the decider in a black ball finish in Group A to complete an exciting day of snooker action.

Results: Senior Snooker (Round Robin): Group A: Arun Kumar (Thane) bt Mahesh Jagdale (Elphinstone CC) 3-2.

Group B: Rahul Sachdev (ISA) bt Sunil Jain (Elphinstone CC) 3-1; Sumit Kataria (Deccan Gym, Pune) bt V. ‘Raja’ Subramanian (Matunga Gym) 3-2; Sunil Jain bt Sumit Kataria 3-2.

Group C: Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Bombay Gym) bt Sumit Saldurkar (MCF) 3-1.

Group D: Hitesh Kotwani (CCI) bt Rajeev Sharma (Malabar Hill Club) 3-0; Manav Panchal bt Hitesh Kotwani 3-0.

Group E: Yogesh Sharma (Pune) bt Jaiveer Dhingra (PJ Hindu Gym) 3-2; Raj Khandwala (CCI) bt Rohan Sakalkar (PYC, Pune) 3-2; Yogesh Sharma bt Rohan Sakalkar 3-1; Jaiveer Dhingra bt Raj Khandwala 3-1.

Group F: Hasan Badami (CCI) bt Farhad Tengra (Elphinstone CC) 3-2; Gaurav Jaisinghani (Vashi) bt Prathamesh Sawant (Thane) 3-0.

Group G: Neel Vithlani (Malabar Hill Club) bt Kabil Badami (Bombay Gym) 3-2.

Group H: Sahil Gadiya (Deccan Gym, Pune) bt Arun Agrawal (Matunga Gym) 3-2; Arun Agrawal bt Vishal Vaya 3-2.

Sunday: 10 a.m. Maharashtra State Selection Billiards & Snooker Tournament, at the Malabar Hill Club