Mumbai, Mar 26 (IANS): Seasoned cueist Nikhil Ootam showed superb touch and played confidently to outsmart Akshay Gogri, coasting to a 500-429 point-difference victory in the opening Group-D match of the All-India CCI Billiards Classic 2024, played at the Cricket Club of India’s (CCI) Sir Wilson Jones Billiards Hall here on Tuesday.

Ootam, despite lack of match practice put to good use his vast experience as he capitalized on every opportunity to stitch together small breaks and managed to put it across his younger rival Gogri with a degree of comfort. Ootam had one solitary substantial break of 64, while the upcoming talent Gogri had two decent runs of 59 and 50.

Earlier, Rohan Jambusaria and Aditya Agrawal, both made winning starts in their respective groups.

Producing a consistent performance Jambusaria constructed a century break of 157 and five substantial breaks to register a comfortable 697-312 win against Rishabh Kumar in a Group-F match. Besides the three-figure effort, Jambusaria rolled in breaks of 99, 71, 65, 64 and 58 to cruise to victory. Kumar had on decent run of 57 in the match.

On an adjacent table, Agrawal started with a bang and compiled a break of 199 initially, which set the tone for his win against Maharashtra No.1 Mahesh Jagdale by a 645-391 win in a Group-C encounter. Agrawal could have constructed more substantial breaks but surprisingly missed some easy shots in contrast Jagdale’s best was 51 midways through the match.

In the third match, Loukic Pathare played steadily to overcome Raajeev Sharma 569-361 in a Group-G encounter. Pathare managed to compile runs of 89, 66, and 63, while Sharma posted breaks of 83, 60 and 53.

Results:

Group-A: Rovin D’Souza beat Devendra Joshi 450-340

Group-C: Aditya Agrawal beat Mahesh Jagdale 645-391.

Group-D: Nikhil Oootam beat Akshay Gogri 500-429.

Group-E: Rishabh Thakkar Shahyan Razmi 400-339.

Group-F: Rohan Jambusaria beat Rishabh Kumar 697-312.

Group-G: Loukic Pathare beat Raajeev Sharma 569-361.