Thaindian News

Mumbai, Aug 3 (IANS) Favourites PJ Hindu Gymkhana ‘Sultans of Hazard’ and Park Club ‘Samurais’ registered comfortable wins to sail into the semifinals of The Zarine and Yazdi Daruvala Charitable Trust Mumbai Billiards League at the Dadar Parsee Colony Gymkhana Friday.

Star-studded ‘Sultans’ beat Mandpeshwar Civic Federation ‘Tough Men’ of Borivali 515-438, while ‘Samurais’ halted Khar Gymkhana ‘Senior’ with a 715-581 win.

Sultans’ class came to the fore as twice world runner-up Dhruv Sitwala, Asian bronze medallist Devendra Joshi and India sub junior No. 2 and Maharashtra junior No. 1 Jaiveer Dhingra lived up to their reputations.

Once again, Vishal Gehani won the opening tie against Amandeep Kohli 200-145 to give ‘Samurais’ a good start. But Deepak Khubchandani offered ‘Senior’ a ray of hope by winning the second tie 200-192 against Sanjeev Bijlani.

Bijlani’s brilliant effort to restrict the margin of defeat to just eight points restored Samurais’ hopes of a win as his teammate Amit Sapru reached a modest target of 148 without much ado in the deciding tie against veteran Prakash Rajani.

Quarterfinals results: PJ Hindu Gym ‘Sultans of Hazard’ beat MCF ‘Tough Men’ 515-438; Park Club ‘Samurais’ beat Khar Gym ‘Senior’ 715-581.