Dhruv Sitwala won the championship

by Shrutee K/DNS

Mumbai, January 18: Dhruv Sitwala of Hindu Gymkhana with some tremendous performances throughout the tournament and an even stronger and impressive display in the final, emerged a worthy champion of the Rs 2 lakh prize-money P.J. Hindu Gymkhana Invitation Billiards Tournament 2016. In the final, the reigning Asian Billiards champ, Sitwala, rose to the occasion by showing great control and silken touches to register a thumping 4-0 (150-up points best-of-seven frames format) win against former Billiards Champ, Ashok Shandilya of Railways, at the Hindu Gyamkhana billiards hall.

The left-handed Sitwala started in businesslike fashion and opened up with a break of 78 points to win the first frame and followed it up with a run of 72 to also win the second to take a 2-0 lead. Not prepared to relent, a charged up Sitwala fired in an unfinished break of 150 in the third and came up with another good break of 56 points to complete his march to victory. Sitwala won by a 151-10, 151-18, 150-03, 152-97 scoreline. Shandilya far from impressive and could only score 128 points in the final.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Sitwala easily overcame Arun Agrawal of Matunga Gymkhana 4-1 (151-33, 151-64, 150-00, 63-151, 151-115), while Shandilya got the better of World No. 3 Siddharth Parikh of Hindu Gymkhana 4-3 in a seven-frame thriller. Shandilya managed to scrape through winning at 150-147, 150-12, 109-150, 35-150, 02-150, 150-87, 150-04.

Champion, Sitwala was presented with the winners’ trophy and a cash award of Rs 40,000, while Shandilya received the runner-up trophy and a cas prize of Rs 25,000. The two losing semi-finalists, Arun Agrawal and Parikh were richer by 15,000 each and the four losing quarter-finalists got Rs 10,000 each.

Sitwala also pocketed Rs 5,000 the award for the highest break. He had made a break of 276 against Raajeev Sharma in a Group ‘A’ league match

Results – semi-finals: Dhruv Sitwala (PJHG) bt Arun Agrawal (MG) 4-1 (151(81)-33, 151(55,87)-64(62), 150(150*)-00, 63-151(50), 151(71,69)-115(61).

Ashok Shandilya (RLY) Beat Siddharth Parikh (PJHG) 4-3 (150(54)-147(69), 150(118)-12, 109-150(60), 35-150(58), 02-150(147), 150(57)-87, 150(89,50)-04).

Final: Dhruv Sitwala (PJHG) bt Ashok Shandilya (RLY) 4-0 (151(78)-10, 151(72)-18, 150(150*)-03, 152(56)-97.