Towering Titans rally to beat Southern Stars

Mumbai, Feb 14 (UNI) Towering Titans rallied from a frame down to overcome Southern Stars for full points, in the inaugural Yasin Merchant Classic Invitation Snooker Doubles Tournament, organised by the Yasin Merchant Fan Club, which got underway at the Islam Gymkhana here today.

On an eventful opening day of big breaks, Southern Stars Vidya Pillai and Chitra Magimairaj stunned the more accomplished Towering Titans pair -- Geet Sethi and Aditya Mehta -- by snatching the opening frame and sounding an early warning in the Group 'B' tie.

But true to his reputation, former world billiards champion Sethi brought the Titans back into the match with a significant break of 33 in the second frame to level at 1-1. In between, Southern Stars came up with some brilliant snookers but it was not enough to keep the formidable Titans pair in check.

After taking a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five frames contest, Sethi rifled in another significant break of 60 in the fifth and final frame to take the match away and earn five points for the effort.

Southern Stars earned one point.

''We could have capitalised on their mistakes but at times, it was a bit difficult to decipher whether to play safe or go for a big break,'' explained Pillai and Magimairaj.

''We could have played a lot better but they capitalised on our errors.'' Said Geet Sethi: ''They played well and gave us a fright by winning the opening frame. It put us under early pressure. Aditya and I had to quickly regroup and as the match progressed, we played tight.'' In a thrilling Group 'A' tie, Junior Jacks Rishabh Pandya and Hasan Badami upset the seasoned Action Jacksons duo of Sarang Shroff and Kamal Chawla, when they rallied from a 1-2 deficit to clinch a pulsating 3-2 win that included Badami's decisive break of 93 in the final frame. Junior Jacks earned six points from the win, while Jacksons picked up two points.

Action Jacksons made amends when they beat Cool Cats (Lucky Vatnani/Amit Saboo) 4-1 to earn five points, while the losers earned one point. Shroff came up with a break of 42 in the first frame and Chawla followed with a 53 in the second.

Results: Group 'A': Action Jacksons bt Cool Cats 74-49, 65-28, 50-69, 65-22, 62-30; Junior Jacks bt Action Jacksons 18-84, 53-30, 13-65, 91-21, 97-9.

Group 'B': Towering Titans bt Southern Stars 53-68, 92-50, 74-39, 100-30, 81-39.

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