Siddharth Parikh wins CCI Billiards crown

Siddharth Parikh of Railways in grand fashion rose to the challenge and seemed to have saved his best for last as he crafted a stupendous effort, a 456 break, which helped him emerge champion. The Mumbai-based lanky cueist, Siddharth showed good temperament and produced a virtuoso performance to quash the aspirations of Sourav Kothari of ONGC by comfortably coasting to an 818-359 margin of victory in the 150-minute grand final of the Cricket Club of India organised Rs 3.8 lakhs prize-money CCI Billiards Classic 2018, at the Club’s Sir Wilson Jones Billiards Room on Saturday.

Siddharth had started with a break of 203 and then managed a run of 53 as wrested the initiative before compiling the huge break. The Kolkata-based Sourav’s form seemed to have deserted him as he could only manage three substantial breaks of 75, 86 and 100.

Earlier, in a semi-final encounter Sourav, a former Asian Billiards champion, showed good break-building abilities and started with a bang amassing a 211 break, his third double century effort in the competition, to brush aside the lukewarm challenge from seasoned pro and compatriot Alok Kumar, marching to a 652-231 victory with plenty to spare, at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards room on Saturday.
Besides the mammoth break, Sourav had a century run of 130 and two breaks of 74 and 63 wrap up the match. Alok, who was unable to offer much of a fight, could only manage a half-century break of 52.

On a side table, Parikh picked up steam from the start to send his Railways teammate Ashok Shandilya crashing out in the penultimate round. The lanky Parikh potted consistently and constructed two-century breaks — 115 and 198 and over half a dozen half-centuries as he waltzed to a 991-424 victory without much ado. The former World Champion Ashok could only muster three breaks of 53, 55 and 65.

Meanwhile, Dhvaj Haria of IOC who had made a magnificent 288 break in the round of 16, could not continue with the same form and suffered a defeat at the hands of ONGC’s Alok in a quarter-final match. The vastly experienced Alok with some shrewd play defeated his younger opponent Dhvaj 636-560 to maintain his unbeaten run and advance to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, former Asian Billiards champion Sourav Kothari (ONGC) and Siddharth Parikh (Railway), both continued with their fine winning run of form to also progress to the last four round. The Kolkata-based Sourav prevailed over Maharashtra cueist Rohan Jambusaria 733-439, while the Mumbai-based Siddharth  halted Tamil Nadu youngster S. Shrikrishna’s excellent winning streak by posting a 704-597 victory.

Results
Final: Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) beat Sourav Kothari (ONGC) 818(203,53,456)-359(75,86100).
Semi-finals: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) beat Alok Kumar (ONGC) 652(211,74,130,63)-231(52);
Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) beat Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 991(90,66,115,83,198,52,70,63,55 )-424(53,55,65).
Results
Quarter-finals: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) beat Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) 733(82,100,108, 84,132,114)-439.
Alok Kumar (ONGC) beat Dhvaj Haria (ONGC) 636(138,64,62)-560(153,178,78);
Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) beat K. Venkatesh (Rlys) 759(89,56,91,54,123)-409(56);
Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) beat S. Shrikrishna (BPCL) 704(51,158,53)-597(50,51,79).