SP Young Guns, Race for Gold & Rakish Kings win

SP Young Guns, Race for Gold and RK's Rakish Kings snatched identical 3-2 wins in the inaugural Videocon Billiards Premier League here today.
On a day of close encounters and big breaks, Young Guns overcame SPG Billiards Punters, while Race for Gold beat SK's Kannon Masters and Rakish Kings prevailed over MB's Shooters after snatching the deciders at the tournament organised by the Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra.
Maharashtra's senior state champion Arun Agrawal, who missed a century break by six points, won both his singles, including the decider, against world team championship gold medallist Ashok Shandilya in the battle of the icons, to lead Young Guns to a win after Cyrus Mistry forced the decider for SPG Billiards Punters by winning the crucial fourth tie.

Trailing 1-2, Race for Gold relied on Ronnie Daruwala and world team championship gold medallist Devendra Joshi to bail them out. While Daruwala snatched the crucial fourth tie, Joshi won both his singles, including the decider, over junior national champion Dhwaj Haria, who missed a century by five points, to beat SK's Kannon Masters.
Joshi's effort included a break of 105 against Hitesh Kotwani in his first singles and a notable 88 against Haria.
Playing with a handicap of -45, Ankit Thakkar shocked world team championship silver medallist Dhruv Sitwala in the decider to lead the Rakish Kings to an exciting win over MB's Shooters.

Trailing 1-2, V Subramanian brought Rakish Kings back into the match by winning the crucial fourth tie before Thakkar sealed the issue with a brilliant effort.

In-form Nalin Patel, who fired two century breaks on the opening day, added another 109 as Tigers blanked RRockets 5-0 to earn a maximum eight points, two of them as bonus.
MB's Shooters and WJ Genii led the 10-team table with 14 points, followed by SP Young Guns (13) and Tigers with 12.
Race for Gold and Rakish Kings have nine points, SK's Kannon Masters eight, RRockets and SPG Billiards Punters six each and Scorpions are at the bottom with three points.