Suraj Rathi Tuesday produced a determined fighting performance to snatch a close 3-2 win against Luv Boricha of Mumbai in the best-of-5-frame Group-F round-robin league match of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker and Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018.
Rathi grabbed the early advantage by winning the first two frames to take a healthy 2-0 lead at Deccan Gymkhana here.
But Boricha fought back to take the third and then narrowly won the fourth to level the frame scores at 2-all.
In the decider, Rathi once again potted steadily and smoothly went on to win the fifth frame to script a 79-23, 66-52, 10-51, 42-49 and 66-20 victory and make a winning start.
Meanwhile, in a Group-B encounter, Shivam Arora comfortably defeated Siddhesh Mulay of Chiplun by a 3-1 margin at the Poona Club here.
Mumbais youngster Kreishh Gurbaxani regained his lost form and touch as he breezed past Tahaa Khan of Pune 3-0 in a Group-G match.
Results: Played at Poona Club - Group-A: Arun Kumar (Thane) beat Viren Sharma (Pune) 3-1 (57-43, 50-31, 17-61, 53-35).
Group-B: Shivam Arora (Pune) beat Siddhesh Mulay (Chiplun) 3-1 (58-53, 63-14, 50-60, 71-29).
Group-C: Anand Raghuvanshi (Mumbai) beat Rohan Kothare (Aurangabad) 3-0 (73-46, 69-15, 65-51).
Played at Deccan Gymkhana - Group-F: Suraj Rathi (Pune) beat Luv Boricha (Mumbai) 3-2 (79-23, 66-52, 10-51, 42-49, 66-20).
Group-G: Kreishh Gurbaxani (Mumbai) beat Tahaa Khan (Pune) 3-0 (59-22, 59-50, 59-53).
Group-H: Abhimanyu Gandhi (Mumbai) beat Gaurav Patange (Pune) 3-1 (56-46, 53-21, 21-50, 73-34).
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