Articles

Faisal Khan

Mumbai, June 29: Producing a good consistent performance, Faisal Khan hit the high notes to win both his ties, which enabled  UNNICA Challengers snatch a fighting 3-2 win against Royal Strikers in the best-of-5-game Group-A league match of the Rs 20 lakh prize-money inaugural LIC-Snooker Premier League, and played at the Garware Club House on Wednesday morning.
The dapper Railway cueist Faisal, first compiled a neat century effort in putting it across Sourav Kothari by two frames to one in the second game of the match and then in the crucial deciding fifth game, which was a 15-red one-frame tie-breaker, against the same opponent, he cashed in on the chances and produced two useful runs of 32 and 45 to clinch the game and seal the win for UNNICA Challengers.
Royal Strikers started on a promising note when the highly experienced Alok Kumar overcame R. Girish 2-1 (37-17, 1-41, 36-2) in the 6-reds first game before Faisal defeated Sourav 2-1 in the second game, which was a 15-red affair, to level the scores at 1-all. Faisal and Sourav traded the first two frames, before the former struck form and rolled in a brilliant unfinished break of 109 to complete a deserving 68-37, 31-66, 125(109)-5 win.
Later, billiards pro and co-owner of UNNICA Challengers, Nalin Patel combined perfectly with National women’s 6-Red champion Amee Kamani to win the single frame doubles game by 56-36 points against Nishant Dossa and Sunil Jain and grab a 2-1 lead.
Hasan Badami kept Royal Strikers in the fight winning the fourth game, which was a 6-red best-of-3 frames game. Hasan kept his cool and potted steadily to defeat Rovin D’Souza 2-1 (40-0, 16-43, 0-40) to win the game and force the decider.
In the final tie-break 15-red single frame, Faisal opened with a run of 32 but missed a simple red in the centre. Sourav picked up from that miss but after scoring 14 points he fouled on a red pot. This time Faisal grabbed the opportunity with both hands and went on to make a break of 45 before missing out on a difficult red pot, but by then he had established a sizeable lead and his opponent accepted defeat.
This was the second win for UNNICA Challengers, who had defeated
In other matches, The Break Builders and RRockets, both fashioned comfortable 3-0 wins against Frame Masters and Satrangi Squad respectively and in the process pocketed a bonus point each.
Former National snooker champion Manan Chandra of The Break Builders, also fired in a three-figure break during his 2-0 win Yasin Merchant after the doubles combination of Siddharth Parikh and Rishabh Thakkar had defeated the Frame Masters duo of Nikhil Ootam and Dhruv Sitwala 69-45 in doubles (1 frame). Later, Shahbaaz Khan eaily defeated Manav Panchal 2-0 in the 6-red best-of-3 frame third game.
Results - Group – A: UNICA Challengers beat Royal Strikers 3-2 : R. Girish lost to Alok Kumar 1-2 (17-37, 41-1, 2-36 - 6red), Faisal Khan bt Saurav Kothari 2-1 (68-37, 31-66, 125(109)-5 - 15red), Nalin Patel/Amee Kamani bt Nishant Dosa/Sunil Jain 56-36 (doubles, 1 frame), Rovin D’Souza lost to Hasan Badami 1-2 (40-0, 16-43, 0-40 - 6red), Faisal Khan bt Saurav Kothari 81-14 (15red, 1 frame).
Group – B: RRockets beat Satrangi Squad 3-0 : Laxman Rawat bt Yogesh Sharma 2-0 (41-8, 29-15 - 6red), Sandeep Gulati bt Malkeet Singh 2-0 (85(68)-13, 97(54)-32 - 15 red), Rohan Sakalkar/Haemehr Mago bt Brigesh Damani/Amol Abdagiri 49-19 (doubles 1 frame).
Group – B: The Break Builder beat Frame Masters 3-0 : Siddharth Parikh/Rishabh Thakkar bt Nikhil Ootam/Dharu Sitwala 69-45 (doubles, 1 frame), Manan Chandra bt Yasin Merchant 2-0 (67-33, 102(102)-18 - 15red), Shahbaaz Khan bt Manav Panchal 2-0 (37-3, 55-13 - 6red).
Tuesday evening results: Group-B: Satrangi Squad beat Break Builder 3-1: Malkeet Singh bt Shabaz Khan 2-0 (37-23, 53-32 - 6red); Amol Abdagiri lost to Manan Chandra 0-2 (33-69, 16-80, 15red); Brijesh Damani/Yogesh bt Rishabh Thakkar/Gaurav Jaisinghani 59-30 – (doubles 1 frame); Varun Kumar bt Siddharth Parekh 2-1 (8-49, 50-15, 45-0, 6 red).
Group – B: Frame Masters beat R Rockets3-1: Yasin Merchant bt Sandeep Gulati 2-1 (57-71, 70-38, 57-6 15 red) ;Mahesh Jagdale/Dhruv Sitwala lost to Hitesh Kotwani/Rohan Sakalkar 22-60 – (doubles, 1 frame), Nikhil Ootam lost to Laxman Rawat 0-2 (8-37, 31-33 - 6red); Manav Panchal bt Dhvaj Haria 2-0 (50-13, 31-29, 6 red); Yasin Merchant bt Laxman Rawat 95(91)-0.
Group – A: Mumbai Stars beat SPG Dark Knights 3-2: Raul Sachdev lost to Kamal Chawla (19-67, 15-106(87) - 15red); Ishpreet Singh Chadha lost to Shivam Arora 1-2 (31-12, 0-53, 9-39 - 6red); Dhairya Bhandario/Rajwardhan Joshi bt Shekhar Surve/Ashit Pandya 77(59)-22 (doubles 1 frame); Ashok Shandilya bt Ketan Chawla 2-1 (37-25, 18-28, 32-12 - 6red); Ishpreet Singh Chadda bt Kamal Chawla 72-27 (15red 1 frame)
Group –A: UNICCA Challengers beat Saffron Army 3-2 : Faisal Khan bt Anuj Uppal 2-1 (49-41, 9-89, 73-44, 15 red); Nalin Patel/Vishal Madan bt Zubin Lelinwalla/Kartik Jhaveri 51-41 (doubles 1 frame); R. Girish lost to Pushpender Singh 0-2 (33-35, 17-37, 6 red); Rovin D’Souza lost to Ashutosh Padhy 0-2 (9-54, 25-35 - 6 red); Faisal Khan bt Pushpender Singh (66-53, 15 red).