Pandia stuns fancied Selven in Open handicap snooker meet

Mumbai, July 31 (UNI) Sushrut Pandia of the P J Hindu Gymkhana shocked fancied Samuel Selven 2-0 to move into the second round of the Kotak Mahindra Bank-Wilson Jones Open Handicap Billiards and Snooker Championship at the P J Hindu Gymkhana here today.

Pandia (+55), who convincingly won the opening frame for a good start, fashioned the second upset of the competition by snatching a tight second frame on the black after Selven (+45) missed a sitter.

P J Hindu Gymkhana marker Sandeep Teli (+60) also won his opening round in dramatic fashion when he beat a determined Varun Vasant (+60) 121-94, 109-110, 120-80 after dropping the second frame on the black.

In contrast, the fancied cueists lived up to their reputation as Bombay Gymkhana's Marzdi Kalyaniwala (+25), Neel Vithalani (+30) and Sarang Shroff (+5) won their first round matches without much ado.

Kalpesh Mevada (+50) rallied to beat the only lady contestant of the day Heena Khandelwal (+55) 2-1 after dropping the opening frame.

Results: Snooker (1st Rd): Joseph Menezes (+50) bt Daniel D'Souza (+60) 1-07-87, 116-102; Sushrut Pandia (+55) bt Samuel Selven (+45) 103-78, 111-97; Marzdi Kalyaniwala (+25) bt Zareer Shroff (+60) 106-82, 107-62; Neel Vithalani (+30) bt Chetan Hemadi (+60) 109-78, 101-76; Sandeep Teli (+60) bt Varun Vasant (+60) 121-94, 109-110, 120-80; Kalpesh Mevada (+50) bt Heena Khandelwal (+55) 89-117, 97-93, 110-69; Manish Jain (+35) bt Ativ Patel (+60) 83-119, 110-69, 102-87; Sarang Shroff (+5) bt Abhay Haralkar (+60) 97-62, 84-106, 102-64.

UNI