Pune: Rishabh Thakkar and Sparsh Pherwani, both from Mumbai worked their into the final of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018.
In a tense and nerve-wracking semi-final contest, Thakkar put up a doughty performance to dash the aspirations of compatriot Mukund Bharadia by scraping to a close 4-3 victory in the best-of-7-frame match at the Deccan Gymkhna on Saturday.
In the other semi-final encounter, the talented Pherwani found the going tough initially against Pune’s Vignesh Sanghvi. But, the young Mumbai cueist showed great tenacity and a strong fighting spirit as he bounced back after losing the opening two frames to carve out a satisfactory 4-2 win to have a crack at becoming the Maharashtra state number one ranked snooker player.
Both Thakkar and Bharadia were engaged in a grim battle for supremacy and they shared the first six frames to take the match the distance. In the seventh frame, Thakkar was fully composed and potted steadily to pocket the frame to complete a 21-80, 70-44, 29-77, 56-30, 66-45, 33-65 and 65-28 to win to book his place in the final and stay in line of winning a grand double. Thakkar had earlier this month the Senior Billiards crown.
The Pune cueist Shanghvi started on a promising note and opened up a 2-1 lead. But, therafter, Pherwani gradually struck form and started to play with better consistency in the next three frames and signed off with a flourish by constructing a break of 86 to finish off the contesting, with the frame scores reading 14-74, 69-47, 17-66, 61-42, 60-6 and 86-0 in his favour.
Earlier, in the quarter-finals, Pherwani blanked his city mate Anand Raghuvanshi (Mumbai) 4-0 (78-33, 87(45)-5, 72-16, 72-48), while Kumar also enjoyed a relaxed outing defeating Abhimanyu Gandhi also from Mumbai) 4-1. In the other matches, Shanghvi prevailed over Mumbei’s Manav Panchal 4-2.
Results:
Semifinals: Sparsh Pherwani bt Vignesh Shanghvi 4-2 (14-74, 69-47, 17-66, 61-42, 60-6, 86(86)-0); Rishabh Kumar bt Mukund Bharadia 4-3 (21-80(48), 70-44, 29-77, 56-30, 66-45, 33-65, 65-28).
Quarterfinals: Sparsh Pherwani bt Anand Raghuvanshi 4-0 (78-33, 87(45)-5, 72-16, 72-48); Mukund Bharadia bt Pankaj Khatri 4-0 (76-07, 63-61, 84(47)-30, 63-51); Vignesh Shanghvi bt Manav Panchal 4-2 (30-81, 18-55, 54-42, 66-53, 75-41, 73-7); Rishabh Kumar bt Abhimanyu Gandhi 4-1 (54-50, 35-70, 64-54, 48-39, 64-35).
