In briefs

In another match played at the same venue,The Cathedral & John Connon ‘B’ registered comprehensive 3-0 win over St Michael. For Cathedral,Rajeevr Dhody,Munishi Munim and Uday Khandelwal struck a goal each.

Results: At MSSA,Azad Maidain: B-16-IV: Bombay Cambridge ‘B’ (Andheri W) 2 (Arbaaz Kapadia 1,Rhitwik Kale 1) Beat Bengali Education (Dadar) 0; The Cathedral & John Connon ‘B’ (Fort) 3 (Rajveer Dhody 1,Munishi Munim 1,Uday Khandelwal 1) bt St. Michael (Mahim) 0; Fazlani L. Academie (Mazagaon) 2 (Monil Shah1,Adnan Shaikh 1) bt Sundatta High School (Grant Road) 0; Smt. R.S.B. Arya Vidyamandir (Juhu) 2 (Viraj Shetty 2) bt St. Joseph’s High School 0; At St. Xavier’s Ground,Parel: St. Joseph Sec. (Malad) 1 (Vinayek Matre 1) bt St Anthony’s (Versova) 0; Arya Vidyamandir (Bandra East) 2 (Omkar Degwekar 2) bt Jamnabai Narsee ‘B’ (Juhu) 1 (Devesh Shah 1); St Anthony’s H.S (Vakola) 5 (Sheldon Miranda 4 hat-trick,Anderson Andrade 1) bt Hiranandani Foundation (Powai) 1 (Pulak Shukla 1).

Aditya wins 3rd match

India’s ace cueist Aditya Mehta came from behind to beat local player Jimmy White 6-5 third round match at the qualifying stages of the International Open snooker tournament here.

Ranked 74th in the world,Aditya played well in patches but was enough to beat his English opponent 6–5. Trailing 1-3 behind in the first session,Aditya recovered with breaks of 79 and 69 to be 3–3 at the interval. After losing a couple of close frames to trail 3-5 again,Aditya fought back and pulled one with a 53 break and then won a very close 10th frame on the pink to level 5–5. In the deciding frame,even though Jimmy had the first opportunity,Aditya won with an excellent 73 to clinch victory.

Talking about the win,Aditya said,”I’m a little relieved as this was a tricky match. I knew I could do it,I just had to find my level in the game. This event is one of the majors on the pro tour and I need one more to win to get to the ‘Venue Stages’ in China.”

Pune FC opens against CRPF

Pune FC was greeted with a change in opponent on the eve of their season opener game in the 125th Durand Cup. Scheduled to play Army Red,Pune FC will instead open their campaign against Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at the Ambedkar Stadium,New Delhi,on Thursday.

While the eleventh hour switch hardly mattered,Pune FC,coach Derrick Pereira remained focused. “Both teams,I am sure,are tough challengers. However,for us the game is our first competitive match,” he said.

Last year’s semifinalists,Pune FC go into the game after a satisfying second half preseason,which included six friendly matches in eight days against Goan sides. “We did well in all matches. Results were satisfactory,and the team shaped well.” Pune FC sparred with the best from the coastal state and remained difficult to break by drawing seven matches. The coach,however,picked the forward line as a concern because strikers Jeje Lalpekhlua and James Moga were engaged in their own National team preparations during preseason. With Jeje added to the squad,Pune FC will lean on his experience with Subash Singh and increase the conversion rate.