World bronze medallist Devendra Joshi was the toast of the day when he fired a sensational 218 break, in the Cricket Club of India (CCI) Classic Billiards and Snooker tournament, here today.
The seasoned Bharat Petroleum cueist played vintage billiards with sparkling top-of-the-table play en route to an effortless 849-335 win over CCI's Hitesh Kotwani in Group D.
Joshi warmed up with two brilliant breaks of 93 and 90, narrowly missing the century milestone, before treating cuesports enthusiasts to the delightful double century break.
Later, twice world runner-up and India No. 4 Dhruv Sitwala extended the treat when he hit three century breaks while prevailing over Kotwani 782-212 in another Group D tie.
The big guns dominated the day as former Railways champion Siddharth Parikh hit 106, former world professional No. 7 Nalin Patel made 104 and world bronze medallist Ashok Shandilya delighted with a 129.
The other significant winners were India No. 5 Rupesh Shah and India No. 7 Malkeet Singh of CCI.
The father son duo, Arun and Aditya Agrawal also registered convincing wins in their respective opening matches.
Results: Group A: Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) bt Satbir Narula (CCI) 758(106, 88,83)-266; Nalin Patel (Mah) bt Jaiveer Dhingra (ONGC) 458(104,97)-341.
Group B: Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) bt Kekoo Nicholson (CCI) 364-349; Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) bt Arun Agrawal (Mah) 624-430; Ashok Shandilya bt Kekoo Nicholson 873(94,129)-230.
Group C: D. Rajkumar (Ktk) bt Aditya Agrawal (Rlys) 577-476; Malkeet Singh (CCI) bt D. Rajkumar 491-367.
Group D: Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) bt Hitesh Kotwani (CCI) 782(108,174,183)-212; K.Venkatesham (Rlys) bt Mahesh Jagdale 544(91)-406; Rupesh Shah (PSPB) bt Hitesh Kotwani 550-387; Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Hitesh Kotwani 849(93,90,218)-335.
