Pune cueists Rajwardhan Joshi and Nimish Kulkarni notched up crucial hard-fought victories in their concluding group ties to enter the pre-quarter-finals of the NSCI-BSAM All India Under-25 Snooker Challenge 1 tournament today.
Needing a win to advance to the last 16, the two PYC Hindu Gymkhana youngsters scored identical 3-2 victories over their respective rivals to earn their berths in the knock out stage of the meet at the National Sports Club of India here.
Joshi halted Rahul Kamte of city-based Willingdon Sports Club with a 33-45 59-25 59-52 39-57 47-30 scoreline in Group B that included a black ball finish in the third frame.
Kulkarni clawed his way back from 0-2 to win three frames in a row and overcome another local cuiest Samay Wadhwan of PJ Hindu Gymkhana.
The Pune cueist won 23-60 46-55 52-32 58-56 55-12 in Group E and held his nerves in the do-or-die fourth frame that ended in a black ball finish to force the decider that he won quite comfortably to sail through to pre-quarter stage.
Nikhil Saigal of city-based Khar Gymkhana and Dhariya Bhandari of Indian Snooker Academy also won their crucial concluding round robin ties to join the Pune duo in the next round.
Kabil Badami of Bombay Gymkhana and Pranit Ramchandani of Tamil Nadu were the other significant cueists to qualify for the knock out round.
