Thakkar, Ramakrishan score contrasting wins

Pune: Rishabh Thakkar of Mumbai had quite a fight on hand before getting the better of Dhaval Gadhvi of Pune in a long draw five-frame affair 3-2 in a Group-E round-robin league match of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018 and played at the Poona Club on Thursday.

The Otters Club player Thakkar started with a flourish and uncorked a fluent 62 break in the second as he pocketed the opening two frames to enjoy a 2-0 cushion. But, the Pune opponent Gadhvi made a strong reply to win the next two and take the match to the wire. The decider was quite a close affair before Thakkar managed to win to snatch a 67-30, 62-0, 15-57, 47-70 and 64-35 win.

In another  match, Cherag Ramakrishan also from Mumbai put up a steady display and overcame Kaiwalya Chavan of Satara 3-1 (50-36, 67-44, 40-64, 70-50).

Meanwhile, Viren Sharma of Pune was in terrific form and cracked two half century break on way to recording an authoritative 3-1 win against Avenish Shah of Mumbai in Group-A match.

Striking the balls with good accuracy and consistent potting Sharma looked to be in total control against his Mumbai challenger Shah. 

He started hesitantly and trailed by 38 points in the first,  but he managed to stitch together a timely break of 58, which helped him win the frame. He lost the second as Shah managed to level scores at 1-all.

Sharma then found his touch and eased to a 75-42, 37-62, 62-1 and 76-2 victory.

Results: (Round-Robin League) 
Group-A: Viren Sharma bt Avenish Shah 3-1 (75(58)-42, 37-62, 62(38)-1, 76(74)-2); Shabaz Khan bt Avenish Shah 3-1 (17-43, 83-42, 68-32, 56-27);  Shabaz Khan bt Arun Kumar 3-1 (78-20, 44-56, 57-47, 64-55).

Group-B: Ashwin Palnitkar bt Siddhesh Mulay (Chiplun) 3-1 (56-33, 28-53, 75-23, 73-49); Mukund Bharadia bt Ashwin Palnitkar 3-0 (48-20, 62-31, 72-15);  Mukund Bharadia bt Shivam Arora 3-1 (23-97(52), 99-18, 61-08, 56-42).

Group-C: Rohan Kothare bt Harmehr Mago 3-1 (50-17, 38-47, 65-37, 46-10); Anand Raghuvanshi bt Pankaj Khatri 3-2 (78-10, 68-10, 47-59, 21-56, 80-41).

Group-D: Mayank Bhavsar bt Sumehr Mago 3-0 (69-36, 63-13, 59-17); Siddharth Tembe bt Manav Pachal 3-2 (55-41, 56-10, 9-70, 48-56, 69-29).

Group-E: Rishabh Thakkar bt Dhawal Gadhvi 3-2 (67-30, 62(62)-0, 15-57, 47-70, 64-35); Cherag Ramakrishan bt Kaiwalya Chavan 3-1 (50-36, 67-44, 40-64, 70-50).
Group-F: Suraj Rathi bt Sparsh Pherwani 3-1 (54-17, 33-73, 64-44, 67-30).