MG 6-Red Open Snooker Tournament'2023
Kotwani, Qureshi score hard-fought victories
28-Feb-2023
Hitesh Kotwani
Mumbai, February 28: Hitesh Kotwani and Shakir Qureshi, both faced a bit of a struggle but managed to scrape through registering identical 3-2 victories in the respective best-of-5-frame third round matches of the Matunga Gymkhana organized Rs 1.8 lakh 6-Red Open Snooker Tournament, conducted under the auspices of BSAM, and played at the gymkhana’s billiards hall. The tournament is being supported by Pidilite Industries Ltd, Nagee Cues and Himatlal Doshi.
The fancied Kotwani was twice in arrears (1-2 down) against Abhishek Soparkar, but recovered in strong fashion by winning the last two frames to carve out a satisfying 3-2 (14-40, 45-10, 0-37, 41-17 and 46-33). Kotwani’s best effort was a break of 34 in the second frame.
Qureshi was slow to get off the blocks in his clash with Vishal Yelve who made a bright positive start by pocketing the first two frames to enjoy a 2-0 lead. But, showing tremendous fighting spirit Qureshi steadily, but gradually clawed his way back and won the remaining three frames in succession to clinch a 3-2 (28-34, 6-32, 44-23, 38-4 and 43-23) verdict to march into the next round.
Meanwhile in a second round match, Sunil Shedge was in complete control in his outing against Shubham Wani and smoothly sailed to a 3-0 (28-16, 43-15 and 58-28) win. On the other hand, Sahil Karnani found the going tough against Parth Chavan, but managed to hold his nerves to record a hard-fought 3-2 (40-17, 11-26, 26-34, 61-2 and 39-17) victory.
Results - Round-3: Hitesh Kotwani bt Abhishek Soparkar 3-2 (14-40, 45(34)-10, 0-37, 41-17, 46-33); Shakir Qureshi bt Vishal Yelve 3-2 (28-34, 6-32, 44-23, 38-4, 43-23).
Round-2: Sahil Karnani bt Parth Chavan 3-2 (40-17, 11-26, 26-34, 61-2, 39-17); Mohammad Dhokadia bt Kaustubh Phatak 3-1 (38-9, 30-34, 21-11, 51-38); Nikhil Patel bt Sunil Jadhav 3-1 (19-29, 43-10, 63-22, 37-22); Sunil Shedge bt Shubham Wani 3-0 (28-16, 43-15, 58-28).
Round-1: Samir Karia bt Himanshu Badlani 3-1 (49-39, 29-17, 38-53, 39-9); Amit Thakkar bt Raza Sayed 3-2 (45-25, 22-42, 44-35, 16-44, 44-18); Jigar Shah bt Amit Mali 3-0 (46-12, 51-19, 41-6).