CCI Snooker Classic: Jabalpur cueist Nikhilesh Pillai moves into the second round of qualifying stage

Mumbai, Feb 20 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh cueist Nikhilesh Pillai potted fluently to overcome home challenger Amitesh Goenka 3-0 in a first-round match of the CCI Snooker Classic 2024 at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall here on Tuesday.  

The Jabalpur player tactfully constructed a break of 64 points in the first frame which set the tone for his 89-18, 77-43, 74-10 win in the Rs 12.5 lakh prize-money event organised by the Cricket Club of India.

Seasoned campaigner Siddharth Parikh also showed great touch and rolled in 65 point break in the opening frame and went on to tame Hardik Kariya by a convincing 3-0 (89-18, 77-43, 74-10) victory in a second-round encounter. Meanwhile, Nikhil Saigal faced quite a stiff challenge from Hyderabad’s Abed Sayed and managed to scrape through by a tight 3-2 (24-64, 64-42, 62-37, 12-53, 53-48) win to advance to the third round. Saigal made a break of 49 in the third and won a close fifth to seal his win.

In third-round encounters, Rajeev Sharma outshone Marzdi Kalyaniwala cruising to a quick 3-0 (66-10, 70-29, 64-39) win, while Nikhil Ghadge fought hard to put it across a spirited Samarth Vernekar snatching a 3-2 (44-77, 61-28, 27-66, 50-46, 68-38) victory.

Results – Round-1: Raj Charri bt J.N. Nagpal 3-0 (60-38, 47-41, 62-49); Samar Khandelwal bt Amit Poojari 3-0 (53-29, 64-39, 68-56); Rehan Patel bt Narendra Bhavsar 3-0 (68-34, 71-45, 72-16); Raj Shetty bt Gaurav Prabhu 3-1 (24-67, 58-19, 67-52, 58-30); Jignesh Choksi bt Arun Barve 3-2 (18-52, 46-53, 64-36, 52-16, 50-9); Md. Salim bt Monaj Kasare 3-0 (53-41, 71-17, 69-21); Sukeel Venkatramani bt Manoj Nandwani 3-0 (54-30, 75-52, 47-34); Nikhilesh Pillai (MP) bt Amitesh Goenka 3-0 (72(64)-10, 57-24, 57-13).

Round-2: Danish Khan bt Sandeep Gulrajani 3-1 (23-50, 53-22, 61-40, 50-40; Jayesh Salvi bt Suraj Veer 3-1 (68-54(46), 54-34, 19-53, 57-17); Devendra Patel bt Shafique Khatri 3-0 (60-38, 77-32, 67-1); Nikhil Saigal bt Abed Sayed (Hyd) 3-2 (24-64, 64-42, 62(49)-37, 12-53, 53-48); Siddharth Parikh bt Hardik Kariya 3-0 (89(65)-18, 77-43, 74-10).

Round-3: Rajeev Sharma bt Marzdi Kalyaniwala 3-0 (66-10, 70(37)-29, 64-39); Nikhil Ghadge bt Samarth Vernekar 3-2 (44-77, 61-28, 27-66, 50-46, 68-38).

--IANS

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