Krishna Tohgaonkar (+30 handicap) of Thane exhibited tremendous resilience as he recovered from the brink of defeat to overcome Deven Patel (+35) of Kalyan by a 3-2 frame scores in an engrossing quarterfinal match of the BSAM Snooker Challenger (Leg-2) 2023-2024, at the Islam Gymkhana billiards room on Thursday afternoon.
Deven as usual started in promising fashion and pocketed the opening two frames. But, Tohgaonkar not prepared to give up without a fight played with greater determination and potted more consistently to win the next three frames in succession to clinch a satisfying 50-99, 90-100, 115-83, 96-54 and 108-67 win.
In the semi-final, the Thane challenger Tohgaonkar will clash with Matunga Gymkhana’s Rushabh Jain (+25), who defeated Otters Club’s Yash Babani (+35) by a comfortable 3-1 (96-36, 27-97, 94-66 and 113-35) margin.
In the other two quarter-finals, Malabar Hill Club’s Raajeev Sharma (+30) beat Park Club’s Vishal Gehani (+30) 103-71, 106-85 and 97(30)-85, while NSCI’s Karan Chugh (+35) compiled two breaks of 39 and 38 in the last two frames to tame WCG’s Shakir Qureshi (+35) 97-83, 103(39)-64 and 104(38)-97.
Results – Quarter-finals: Raajeev Sharma (MHCL, +30 handicap) beat Vishal Gehani (PCL, +30) 103-71, 106-85, 97(30)-85;
Karan Chugh (NSCI, +35) beat Shakir Qureshi (WCG, +35) 97-83, 103(39)-64, 104(38)-97;
Krishna Tohgaonkar (Thane, +30) beat Deven Patel (Kalyan, +35) 50-99, 90-100, 115-83, 96-54, 108-67;
Rushabh Jain (Matunga Gymkhana, +25) beat Yash Babani (Otters Club, +35) 96-36, 27-97, 94-66, 113-35.
