Snooker Open: Teenagers Sumer, Shahyan record stunning victories

MUMBAI: Teenagers Sumer Mago and Shahyan Razmi recorded stunning victories over accomplished opponents Sparsh Pherwani and Rovin D’Souza respectively in first round matches of the All India Snooker Open 2024, at the NSCI billiards hall on Saturday.

Later, seasoned campaigner and former two-time Asian snooker champion Yasin Merchant dished out a vintage performance to put it across his trainee Vinay Swaminathan in an absorbing match that went to the wire. The snooker maestro showed glimpses of his past and potted steadily against Swaminathan who played brilliantly and managed to snatch a 66-54, 32-62, 55-75(51), 72-22, 86-9, 83(51)-1, 5-83(73), 0-89, 82(81)-9 victory.

The 19-year-old Sumer showed great character and nerves of steel to narrowly win the crucial deciding ninth frame to shut out his practice partner Pherwani by notching up a well-deserved 5-4 win in the best-of-9 frame encounter. After Sumer raced to a 4-1 lead Pherwani fought back to level the scores at 4-all. But, Sumer played confidently to win the final frame and clinch a 59-25, 57-25, 91-32, 17-87, 67-13, 28-78, 48-65, 17-73, and 63-55 win to advance to the second round. Sumer had one break of 51 in the third frame while Pherwani made two breaks of 61 and 56 in the fourth and sixth frames, but his efforts went in vain.

In contrast, 18-year-old Shahyan played solidly and steadily against seasoned cueist Rovin D’Souza and sailed through to the second round with a 5-2 verdict. Shahyan started in whirlwind fashion winning the first four frames to grab the initiative. D’Souza saved himself the blushes by taking the next two frames, before Shahyan returned to winning form by pocketing the seventh frame to complete a 63-56, 91-40, 51-39, 48-11, 23-67, 1-60, and 62-61 victory. The youngster had constructed a break of 60 in the second frame.

Meanwhile, in a battle between NSCI cueists, the experienced Abhishek Bajaj produced some brilliant performances, especially in winning the fourth to tame Samay Wadhawan 5-1. Bajaj strolled to a 51-27, 56-43, 38-66, 51-47, 89-27, and 74-50 win.

Kreishh Gurbaxani started strongly by stitching together a 70 point break in winning the first frame. He then played steadily to shut the door on bt Hritik Jain 5-2 (85(70)-49, 13-64, 62-46, 69-27, 27-72, 63-48, 64-8).