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Nahar Group-MIG All India Invitational Snooker Championship 2009
MIG Cricket Club
Bandra - Mumbai - Maharashtra
07 January 2009 @ Mumbai (India)
1. Desai lauds Nahar Group's commitment to MIG snooker
Dr. Ajit Desai lauds Nahar Group's commitment to MIG snooker
report by: Pradeep Vijayakar
The MIG Cricket Club turned into a snooker haven on Tuesday. The occasion was the inauguration of the Rs 3.1 lakh Nahar Group-MIG All India invitation snooker tournament. The first edition had been held in July 2007 and had a damp ending with flooding waters preventing spectators from watching the finale won by Manan Chandra. But the sponsors were not dispirited. They kept their commitment to hold it again. What's more, the Nahar Group director, Rajesh Yagnik, said they would do it again.
It spoke volumes for the impression created by this event in its first year.
Manju Yagnik who had inaugurated in 2007 was delayed because of last-minute
emergencies. Her husband Rajesh came and hit a shot under guidance of chief
referee Ajay Rastogi to inaugurate the event. He later said he was more
comfortable playing cricket. He also exchanged a few words with the players like
Yasin Merchant, Aditya Mehta, Rupesh Shah and MS Arun.
Arun upsets Sourav Kothari
The Rs. 3.1 Lakh Nahar Group-MIG Club All India invitation snooker tournament couldn't have had a better start with two stars, Yasin Merchant and Aditya Mehta, sparkling in their first round wins and Tamil Nadu's MS Arun upsetting India No 3 Sourav Kothari in the league games. Yasin had three breaks of over 60 and Aditya had a 63 in his 4-3 win over R Girish of Karnataka.Hosts PYC Giants just about managed to destroy TPJ (Tables Pool Junction) Destroyers 2-1 in their opening round match in Group `B' in the fifth edition of the PYC –ATC Snooker Challenge 2008 tournament here today.
The opener was full of thrills. In the decider, Kothari needed just the pink but missed and Arun got the last two balls to throw group B, which has Alok Kumar and Rishab Pandya wide open. Arun later beat Rishab Pandya 4-2.
The tournament was inaugurated by Rajesh Yagnik director of Nahar Group who said he was happy his company fulfilled the commitment to sponsor the event they first did in 2007 and would continue to do so. Dr Ajit Desai, the club general secretary, said it was a feather in the cap of the sponsors that they continued to sponsor a tournament not involving cricket inspite of the ongoing recession.
Maharashtra state champ Nikhil Ootam has replaced Geet Sethi in the tournament and is in group C along with Aditya Mehta, Brijesh Damani and R Girish.