Veteran Tony Monteiro stuns young Pandya

Mumbai, May 12 (UNI) Veteran Tony Monteiro rolled back the years to fashion a sensational win over a much younger and formidable Rishabh Pandya, in the Rexello Castors-Islam Gymkhana Open Handicap and Invitation Snooker Tournament 2007 at the Islam Gymkhana here today.

Monteiro yesterday created a sensation for the second day in succession after scaring upcoming junior Shravan Mohta in the group opener.

The septuagenarian, a winner of a plethora of titles in his heyday, carried his form into his second tie in Group 'A', but this time with success as he shocked Pandya 59-29, 56-48, 32-73, 56-52 in an exciting best-of-five frames contest.

As the match meandered into the fourth frame after Monteiro snatched the opening two frames, Pandya needed only the pink to survive and force the decider. Pandya enjoyed many chances on the pink, but surprisingly he faltered.

Monteiro returned to pot the pink and sold the black at the centre. Though the hand ball was near the cushion, Pandya bungled an easy black. Monteiro capitalised on the opportunity and fired a long pot to seal his first win from two games.

Ashok Shandilya fashioned his second win in Group 'C' with a 3-1 win over qualifier Kaizad Fitter, that included a break of 52 in the opening frame.

Devendra Joshi kicked off his campaign with a similar 3-1 win over Hasan Badami in Group 'B'.

Results: Group 'A': Tony Monteiro bt Rishabh Pandya 59-29, 56-48, 32-73, 56-52; Rishabh Pandya bt Haji Usman 77-0, 64-41, 5-46; Rovin D'Souza bt Haji Usman 68-44, 66-7, 71-32.

Group 'B': Devendra Joshi bt Hasan Badami 83-60, 40-68, 75-14, 76-42.

Group 'C': Marzdi Kalyaniwala bt Sahil Khan 74-21, 63-3, 64-27; Ashok Shandilya bt Kaizad Fitter 103 (52)-33, 19-60, 73-31, 74-37.

Group 'D': Omar Balsara bt Chandu Shah 54-18, 65-29, 74-61.

UNI