Yasin Merchant Doubles Classic Snooker Tournament

Islam Gymkhana - Mumbai

14-21 February 2008

Bengali Babus shocked Towering Titans

Sourav Kothari of Bengali Babus who fired a decisive break of 80 against Towering Titans

Bengali Babus shocked Towering Titans in a crucial tie to rekindle their hopes, in the inaugural Yasin Merchant Classic Invitation Snooker Doubles Tournament, organized by the Yasin Merchant Fan Club, at the Islam Gymkhana on Sunday.

Bengali Babus Sourav Kothari and Shahbaz Khan overcame Towering Titans Geet Sethi and Aditya Mehta in an exciting Group 'B' tie to fashion their first win in three outings that earned them six points and kept their hopes alive in the competition.

Babus snatched a vital 2-1 lead in the best-of-five frames contest when in the third frame Khan potted a brilliant long red with the cue ball kissing the cushion and positioned for the black before clearing till the pink.

Enjoying good form, Kothari fired a decisive break of 80 in the fourth frame that took it away from the Titans, who earned two points. Kothari was set to make a clearance of 105 but he missed an easy green.

"We had to perform well today, especially after losing our opening two matches," explained Khan. "Sourav's break was excellent and it came at the opportune time, just when we needed it. We are down in the group and we need these points to stay alive."

Steady Eddies Rupesh Shah and Rafath Habib fashioned their second win in three outings in Group 'A' after overcoming Cool Cats Lucky Vatnani and Amit Saboo, who crashed to their third loss in as many matches. Eddies earned three points, while Cats earned two.

Indian Lions are on a roll as they registered their third straight win in as many tie after crushing Super Siblings in another Group 'A' encounter. Lions earned eight points to lead the group with 18 points.

Results:

Group 'A':

Indian Lions bt Super Siblings 84-50, 92-28, 56-70, 14-64, 114-36

Steady Eddies bt Cool Cats 40-46, 59-31, 52-50, 71-4, 71-11.

Group 'B': Dynamic Duo bt Bengali Babus 65-38, 34-67, 67-20, 86-4, 17-60

Young Turks bt Southern Stars 97-28, 78-30, 95-36, 79-34, 39-89

Bengali Babus beat Towering Titans 66-33, 1-88, 59-35, 82-19, 11-56.

Report :: Don Monterio