Saigal, Yelve record contrasting victories
by Suman Gupta
Mumbai: Nikhil Saigal dropped the opening frame to Vaibhav Saigal, but showed excellent fighting spirit to win the next three frames to record a 3-1 win in a first round match of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) organised Rs 13 lakh prize-money ‘Baulkline’ NSCI All India Snooker Open 2023, at the NSCI billiards hall on Monday.
Taking time to adjust to the new tables, the talented Saigal narrowly lost the first frame. But, thereafter, he was in control and easily won the second and third frames before pocketing a close fourth frame to clinch a 58-66, 68-1, 73-7, and 43-33 victory to advance to the second round.
Earlier, NSCI marker Ajinkya Yelve also struggled a bit on the new surface but managed to smoothly sail to a 3-0 victory against Ravi Beniwal and join Saigal in the second round. After taking the first two frames, Yelve produced small but useful breaks of 21 and 43 in the third, to complete a quick and deserving 90-42, 50-19, and 66-1 win.
Sukeel Venkatramani also enjoyed a first round success as he defeated Tathya Sachdev by a 3-1 scoreline. Venkatramani and Sachdev shared the first two frames before the former steadily won the next two to close out the match winning by 66-33, 18-73, 66-34, and 73-36 frame scores.
Results – First round: Sukeel Venkatramani bt Tathya Sachdev 3-1 (66-33. 18-73, 66-34, 73-36);
Nikhil Saigal beat Vaibhav Pawar 3-1 (58-66. 68-1, 73-7, 43-33).
Ajinkya Yelve beat Ravi Beniwal 3-0 (90-42, 50-19, 66-1).
