Tuesday, Apr 30, 2024 | Last Update : 08:33 AM IST
Patel, Thakkar make bright winning start
Patel settled down quickly on the home tables and rattled in two century efforts of 134 and 107.
Bombay Gymkhana’s Nalin Patel and Rishabh Thakkar of Otters Club comfortably won their respective opening Group-D and Group-E round-robin league matches of the Bombay Gymkhana Handicap Billiards Tournament 2018.
The seasoned pro Patel (-475 points handicap) stamped his authority with a free-flowing performance against Maharashtra’s second ranked, 16-year-old Kreishh Gurbaxani (-240 handicap) of Khar Gymkhana and charged to a 675-266 points win at the Bombay Gymkhana’s billiards room.
Playing in familiar surroundings, Patel settled down quickly on the home tables and rattled in two century efforts of 134 and 107 and in addition had two decent runs of 87 and 71 to wipe out his steep handicap and then scored the 200 points to race away to victory. The teenager Gurbaxani, who last month finished runner-up to Thakkar in the BSAM State selection tournament, could only manage to cover his handicap and score a mere 26 points which was not good enough.
