Soparkar stuns Merchant

15.12.2014

Abhishek Soparkar

Qualifier Abhishek Soparkar shocked favourite Yasin Merchant in a 7-6 thriller, in the NSCI All India 9-Ball Open Pool tournament, on Monday.

Thane’s Soparkar, who trailed all along until 2-5, surged to a 6-5 lead with a stunning recovery, before snatching a nail-biting win over Merchant, the 2009 Otters Club 9-Ball semi-finalist, on a day of close encounters.

In other ties that went down to the wire, Mahesh Jagdale of Elphinstone Cricket Club beat qualifier Divesh Gangwani of Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana and Arun Madhu of Tamil Nadu overcame J.S. Dawer in another 7-6 thriller.

The other significant winners were, Hasan Badami and Nikhil Ootam of CCI, Ishpreet Singh Chadha and Rishabh Thakkar of Khar Gymkhana, Aditya Agrawal of PJ Hindu Gymkhana, Rovin D’Souza of Railways and qualifiers Avinash Kumar of Delhi and Arun Madhu of Tamil Nadu. The surprise losers were Jaiveer Dhingra, Ronnie Daruwalla of PJ Hindu Gymkhana and Shekhar Surve of Shivaji Park Gymkhana.