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Rishabh, Rovin fashion thrilling wins

Rishabh Pandya and Rovin D'Souza fashioned thrilling 4-3 wins to storm into the senior snooker quarter-finals, in the Matunga Gymkhana Maharashtra State Selection 2007 Billiards & Snooker Tournament, at the Matunga Gymkhana on Saturday.

Pandya rallied from a 0-2 deficit to overcome formidable V. Subramaniam of Mautnga Gymkhana 1-69, 40-46, 93-22, 66-21, 68-64, 8-57, 80-1 in an exciting best-of-seven frames contest between quality cueists, as the juniors took centre stage.

Enjoying home advantage on a familiar top, Subramaniam got off to a dream start with a 2-0 advantage, firing a break of 54 in the opening frame and following it up with a significant 38 in the second.

But Pandya came back strongly and replied with a brilliant 53 in the third, before surging to a vital 3-2 lead even as Subramaniam rifled in a break of 44 in vain in the fifth.

Both got off to a cautious start in the crucial sixth, but Subramaniam compiled a significant 33 until he missed a red in the top corner. But that effort was enough to force the decider and keep his hopes alive.

As Subramaniam missed on a couple of occasions in the deciding seventh frame, Pandya seized the opportunity and compiled a break of 30 early in the frame until he missed the blue in the centre. He returned to notch up another 24 before he bungled a red, but the huge lead he enjoyed was sufficient to leave Subramaniam stranded.

Rovin D'Souza, who already is in the sub junior snooker semi-finals, overcame a spirited Aditya Agrawal 33-63, 70-20, 62-55, 38-62, 73-45, 16-60, 76-15 in another thrilling pre-quarter-final tie to set up a clash with Bombay Gymkhana's Marzdi Kalyaniwala.

Joining Pandya, D'Souza and Kalyaniwala in the last eight were Aditya Mehta and Jatinder Dawer.

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