The icon versus icon skirmish in the 6-Red variety of the Cue Slam - Indian Cue Masters League at the Rajpath Club will appeal most to the cue sports buffs. The outcome of this particular match, set to three frames, will win you just a point as the odds of a player making a clearance of 75, for the bonus point, is very difficult.
On the inaugural day of the distinctively created format, the spectators and the players were curious to know as to how each frame with a ten-minute time limit could drift. But as it transpired, Gujarat Kings’ Andew Pagett, a Welshman, got the better of Chennai Striker’s icon Pankaj Advani in two straight frames.
In the second tie featuring two icons, Bengaluru Buddies’ Darren Morgan triumphed over Delhi Dons’ Kelly `kwikfire’ Fisher in three frames. The defeated Welshman had almost two decades of experience in the ruthless world of professional snooker. Such is the format.
Pagett went on to win the mixed doubles to help his team Gujarat Kings beat Chennai Strikers 3-2 while Laxman Rawat potted the last black to clinch a thrilling victory in the single-frame decider against the Delhi Dons’ Pushpinder Singh.
In the first match of the Clue Slam, Pagett combined with Daria Sirotina to register a win against Advani and Vidya Pillai. While the Strikers lost the first two 6-Red snooker matches, Dharminder Lilly sustained the interest in the tie by winning the 9-ball pool match against Alok Kumar. Vidya and Lilly then won the mixed doubles 9-ball pool against Kumar and Russia’s Daria to level the tie at 2-2 before the Kings’ Brijesh Damani scored an easy win against the Strikers’ Faisal Khan.
“We wanted to put them under pressure right rightaway and that’s exactly what we managed. It was a great team performance and everything went according to plan,” said Pagett.
Results:
Gujarat Kings bt Chennai Strikers 3-2
6-Red snooker: Andrew Pagett and Daria Sirotina bt Pankaj Advani and Vidya Pillai 2-0 (32-9, 23-1); Pagett bt Advani 2-0 (37-30, 35-30); Brijesh Damani bt Faisal Khan 1-0 (32-7) ;
9-ball pool: Alok Kumar lost to Dharminder Lilly 0-2; Kumar and Daria lost to Lilly and Vidya 0-2.
Bengaluru Buddies bt Delhi Dons 3-2
6-Red snooker: Darren Morgan and Anistasia Nechaeva bt Laura Evans and Manan Chandra 2-0 (27-17, 32-16); Darren Morgan lost to Kelly Fisher 1-2 (44-14, 32-34, 0-45); Laxman Rawat bt Pushpinder Singh 1-0 (35-27);
9-ball pool: Sandeep Gulati lost to Kelly Fisher 0-2; Sandeep Gulati and Anastasia Nechaeva, bt Laura Evans and Malkeet Singh 2-1.
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