Pune: Felix Francis and Prashant Pawar held their nerves, dug into their reserves and advanced into the next round of the inaugural Corner Pocket Cup Open Championship 2017 at their home tables, here on Monday.
On the opening day, Felix representing Poona Goan Institute found himself two frames in arrears before pulling off a 3-2 verdict over Awaiz Inamdar (Cue Club). Felix opened with a 1-33 reverse, which was followed by 37-50 second frame loss. Needing to win the third to stay in the hunt, Felix did well to win three in a row 29-5, 44-1, 36-9 and win the game.
In another encounter, Prashant Pawar (Deccan Gymkhana) won his encounter against Anuj Shah (Corner Pocket) with a similar come-from-behind 3-2 verdict. Going down 28-34, 36-38, Prashant was 0-2 in arrears. However, over the next three frames he did well to win them all 37-6, 54-23, 48-31 and advance.
Among other players to have stuttered were Altamksh Saifee (Arizona) against Saad Sayeed (Corner Pocket) and Nimish Kulkarni (PYC Gymkhana) who downed Omkar Gore (Chiplun).
RESULTS
Round 1: Abhishek Bora (Corner Pocket) bt Madhav Joshi (Corner Pocket) 35-16, 28-38, 30-21, 24-25, 42-10; Altamksh Saifee (Arizona) bt Saad Sayeed (Corner Pocket) 17-41, 34-20, 31-24, 08-45, 29-17; Felix Francis (PGI) bt Awaiz Inamdar (Cue Club) 1-33, 37-50, 29-5, 44-1, 36-09; Sanket Mutha (Corner Pocket) bt Sanket Dharmadhikari (Deccan Gymkhana) 41-19, 35-07, 47-22; Prashant Pawar (Deccan Gymkhana) bt Anuj Shah (Corner Pocket) 28-34, 36-38, 37-6, 54-23, 48-31; Arun Barve (PYC Gymkhana) bt Pratik Chavan (Cue Masters) 33-27, 75-2, 40-9; Nimish Kulkarni (PYC Gymkhana) bt Omkar Gore (Chiplun) 29-37, 33-22, 19-33, 38-21, 51-04.
