Yasin Merchant races to second win

Former two-time Asian champion and National champ Yasin Merchant of Khar Gymkhana recorded his second win in Group-E of the snooker competition of the BSAM Maharashtra State Senior Snooker & Billiards Selection (leg-2) Championship.

Yasin showed good form and potted steadily to breeze past Abhishek Bajaj of Bombay Gymkhana 3-0 with the frame scores reading 75-10, 68-49 and 62-58 in favour of the Khar Gym player.

He had earlier defeated Raajeev Sharma of Malabar Hill Club by an identical 3-0 margin.

Yasin has a match against Manav Panchal and is almost assured of making it to the pre-quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Mukand Bharadia of Cricket Club of India recovered after losing the first frame to overcome Sagar Desai of NSCI 3-1 (43-56, 77-22, 65-6, 53-170) in a Group-C match.

Results - Group-A:Sanjay Gamre (BG) beat Sanjiv Shah (JVPG) 3-2 (62-8, 52-60, 48-34, 28-63, 60-18); Group-B:Sumehr Mago (KG) beat Nikhil Ottam (CCI) 3-1 (57-54, 47-37, 44-61, 56-38); Group-C:Mukand Bharadia (CCI) beat Sagar Desai (NSCI) 3-1 (43-56, 77-22, 65-6, 53-170); Anant Mehta (NSCI) beat Sagar Desai (NSCI) 3-0 (69-60, 82-68, 48-47).

Group-E:Yasin Merchant (KG) beat Abhishek Bajaj (BG) 3-0 (75-10, 68-49, 62-58).

Group-F:Shivam Arora (KG) beat Rayaan Razmi (ECC) 3-2 (65(41)-2, 41-50, 15-63, 75-51, 63-35); Gaurav Jaisinghani (Vashi) beat Abhimanyu Gandhi (Otters) 3-2 (50-13, 38-46, 20-62, 78-58, 70-51).

Group-H: Pankaj Khatri (Nashik) beat Ajinkya Yelve (NSCI) 3-1 (60-15, 67-33, 37-61, 53-10); Cherag Ramakrishnan (CCI) beat Yogesh Sharma (Pune) 3-0 (72-9, 71(38)-5, 56-43).