Maharashtra State Selection junior champion Jaiveer Dhingra survived a scare before advancing to the third round, in the Matunga Gymkhana-Dadar Club Open Snooker Tournament on Tuesday.
Playing his opening match in the competition after earning a second round bye, Dhingra initiated a late burst to overcome Sanjiv Bijlani of Park Club 66-23, 29-45, 41-54, 80-8, 65-29 in the most absorbing contest of the day.
Dhingra got off to a good start with a break of 48 in the opening frame. But the formidable Bijlani came back strongly to surprise his opponent by winning the next two frames that included a tight third.
Dhingra finally found the form that deserted him midway and fired significant breaks of 51 in the fourth and 39 in the decider to end Bijlani’s determined challenge.
In another close second round encounter, Waseem Shah of PYC, Pune upset Deependra Pinkyar of Shivaji Park Gymkhana in a 3-2 thriller. Pinkyar frittered away a 2-1 lead and was on the brink of sealing a win in the crucial fourth frame when he trailed 57-75 and endured an unfortunate pink in-off that changed his fortunes.
V. ‘Raja’ Subramanian of Matunga Gymkhana recovered from the loss of the opening frame to also enter the third round.
The other significant winners were, Bhushan Shahade of Dadar Club, Rovin D’Souza and Aditya Agrawal of PJ Hindu Gymkhana, Manoj Kasare and Amandeep Kohli of Khar Gymkhana, and Nikhil Ghadge of Matunga Gymkhana who rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2 in the first round.
Results: 2nd Rd: Waseem Shah (PYC, Pune) bt Deependra Pinkyar (SPG) 57-54, 56-70, 7-58, 82-57, 52-8; V. ‘Raja’ Subramanian (Matunga Gym) bt Mitesh Thakkar (Spring Club) 46-73(33unf), 62-23, 61-26, 47-36; Jaiveer Dhingra (PJ Hindu Gym) bt Sanjiv Bijlani (Park Club) 66(48)-23, 29-45, 41-54, 80(51)-8, 65(39)-29; Aditya Agrawal (PJ Hindu Gym) bt Rohit Khatavkar (Kalyan) 60-47, 30-57, 66-38, 57-23; Amandeep Kohli (Khar Gym) bt Hardik Vyas (North Indian Assn) 65-18, 59-13, 51-12; Yogesh Pawar bt Chandresh Shah (PJ Hindu Gym) 77-51, 57-22, 24-58, 64-8; Rovin D’Souza (PJ Hindu Gym) bt Sparsh Pherwani (Khar Gym) 65-27, 60-26, 2-66, 73-60; Vilas Upsham (Vashi) bt Sagar Jain (North Indian Assn) 29-51, 60-40, 61-39, 47-39; Manoj Kasare (Khar Gym) bt Rajan Gupta (North Indian Assn) 54-39, 42-55, 60-42, 58-22.
1st Rd: Gaurav Jaisinghani (Vashi) bt Rajesh Mehta (Matunga Gym) 57-26, 64-36, 34-49, 68-10; Sanjiv Shah bt Nikhil Sapre (Dadar Club) 53-3, 60-16, 57-29; Rajit Mehta (Dadar Club) bt Vikram Sanap 66-9, 48-13, 29-43, 57-21; Meherzad Bhagwagar (Elphinstone CC) bt Samar Khandelwal (PYC, Pune) 64-46, 38-65, 2-56, 50-31, 71-47; Bhushan Shahade (Dadar Club) bt Vivek Nepali (Vashi) 51-40, 58-72, 52-12, 60-10; Parag Paithankar (Thane) bt Salman Attarwala 58-23, 39-19, 41-23; Bhargav Patel bt Kapil Pawar 71-40, 52-17, 49-25; Anupam Jha (Pune) bt Jigar Shah (Borivali) 72-4, 50-79, 69-2, 45-56, 61-7; Prathamesh Sawant (Thane) bt Nadeem Md. 43-19, 44-69, 45-76, 53-13, 68-42; Nikhil Ghadge (Matunga Gym) bt Amol Pandhare 15-50, 34-36, 66-47, 62-14, 62-22.
Wednesday: 10 a.m. Matunga Gymkhana-Dadar Club Open Snooker Tournament (at both venues)