Anmol Pandit of Pune displayed strong fighting spirit and bounced back in grand fashion to pull off a tight 3-2 win against compatriot Kunal Kadam in a Senior Snooker first round qualifying match of the Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-1) Championship 2018 and played at the Deccan Gymkhana billiards room on Saturday.

Kadam made a bright start by winning the opening two frames quite convincingly to take a commanding 2-0 lead. But, a determined Pandit hit back by closely winning the next three frames to clinch a satisfying victory. Pandit managed to pull through with the frames scores reading 26-66, 48-59, 78-14, 47-28 and 65-54 in his favour.

Kolhapur’s Ameya Kalekar comfortably advanced to the second round defeating Pune’s Dhawal Gadhvi 3-1 (56-26, 41-78, 57-20, 59-43).

Meanwhile, Pune’s Abhishek Ranade cracked a break of 55 in the third frame as he scrapped past his city rival Aryan Rajhans (Pune) 3-2 (30-57, 61-22, 44-50, 69(55)-12, 58-18) in another first round tie.

Mumbai challengers, Kreishh Gurbaxani and Abhimanyu Gandhi, both marched into the second round. The 16-year-old Gurbaxani, who lost to Mumbai’s Rishabh Thakkar in the billiards final and  finished as the number two ranked billiards player in Maharashtra, tamed Abhishek Bora of Pune 3-0 (57-12. 59-15, 74-15). He signed off in style by compiling a break of 52 in the third frame.

Gandhi was in complete control and outplayed Pune’s Arya Bapat  3-0 (70-24, 73-11, 84-27) at the Poona Club billiards room.