Mumbai: Amanullah Shaikh of Andhra Pradesh showed steely nerves and hit form at the opportune moment as he recorded a nail-biting 4-3 (58-45, 9-85, 72-38, 62-49, 9-61, 29-58, 62-58) frame scores victory against home challenger Ajinkya Yelve in a second round match of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) organised Rs 13 lakh prize-money ‘Baulkline’ NSCI All India Snooker Open 2023, at the NSCI billiards hall on Tuesday afternoon.
Nikhil Saigal qualifies too
Later, in the evening Nikhil Saigal after a hesitant start came into his own and pulled off a 4-2 (45-35, 55-22, 29-64, 61-45, 67-11, 59-7) win against Sukeel Venkatramani in a second round qualifying match.
Both Shaikh and Saigal have now qualified among the 32- players for the main draw and will be joined by 32 leading Indian players who have received direct entries to the final round of the tournament.
The Guntur-based Shaikh started with a flourish and was cruising towards the finish line as he led 3-1. But a determined Yelve bounced back strongly by winning the next two frames to level the frames scores and take the match to the seventh frame. The decider was a test of nerves as both cueists had their fair share of chances and towards the end of the frame, Yelve who potted the brown and the blue marginally nosed ahead at 58-49. Shaikh stayed focused and did well as he managed to sink the last two colours, including the difficult black which was stuck along the side cushion. Playing with the rest he boldly went for the shot and rolled the black into the top pocket to clinch a satisfying victory and stay alive in the tournament.
Mahesh Jagdale wins
In first round encounters, seasoned cueist Mahesh Jagdale blanked Mitesh Thakkar coasting to a 3-0 (73-51, 54-50, 61-23) win and home cueist Shubhojit ‘Tobu’ Roy also enjoyed an easy outing defeating Anil Sagar by an identical 3-0 (51-5, 63-60, 61-22) frame scores.
In a keenly contest match, Gaurav Prabhu worked hard to overcome Vivek Narayan 3-2 (8-74, 19-68, 40-35, 59-45, 59-56) and Anant Mehta defeated Karan Chugh 3-1 (66-2, 4-51, 69-22, 65-37) to advance to the second round.
Results – Round-1: Gaurav Prabhu beat Vivek Narayan 3-2 (8-74, 19-68, 40-35, 59-45, 59-56); Vivek Shah beat Vishesh Sahgal 3-0 (81-8, 58-38, 77-27); Amanullah Shaikh beat Sharad Sharma 3-0 (56-22, 78-0, 74-1); Vinay Swaminathan beast Bhavesh Jain 3-0 (54-52, 71-69, 70-31); Jay Shroff beat Raul Shaikh 3-1 (46-6, 51-14, 48-53, 69-1); Mahesh Jagdale beat Mitesh Thakkar 3-0 (73-51, 54-50, 61-23); Anant Mehta beat Karan Chugh 3-1 (66-2, 4-51, 69-22, 65-37); Shubhojit Roy beat Anil Sagar 3-0 (51-5, 63-60, 61-22).
Round-2: Amanullah Shaikh (Tel) beat Ajinkya Yelve 4-3 (58-45, 9-85, 72-38, 62-49, 9-61, 29-58, 62-58); Nikhil Saigal beat Sukeel Venkatramani 4-2 (45-35, 55-22, 29-64, 61-45, 67-11, 59-7).
