Kejriwal recovered splendidly in the final game, after trailing 0-4, and went on to win the game and match at 9-4, 0-9, 9-2, 4-9, 9-4. Pawar did well to draw level at 2-2 to force the decider, capitalising on Kejriwal's lapse in concentration. He surged ahead in similar fashion in the fifth to take a 4-0 lead.

But just as he seemed to inch towards victory, Pawar began committing a number of unforced errors. This enabled Kejriwal to crawl back into the game. Once he restored parity at 4-4 in the decider, he never looked back. In another tight encounter, Rushabh Vora staged a stunning comeback to beat a spirited Sharang Mungvee 9-4, 9-10, 9-3, 9-7 in the boys' Under-15 category.

Leading 2-1, Vorafound himself in serious trouble while trailing 0-7 in the fourth game. But the Cathedral and John Connon lad fought his way back as Mungvee began committing unforced errors. In another Under-15 tie, A Manjrekar prevailed over fancied Gautam Kalani to advance into the second round.

Tel Aviv triumph

Maccabi Tel Aviv (Dadar) beat Kalina Rangers 2-0 in the 11th Floodlit Rink football tournament, sponsored by Pepsi and Ritter Pens organised by St Xavier's Ex-students Association Sports Club, Vile Parle (W), at the St Xavier's school ground.

Randell Pereira and Dennis Menezes were the goal-getters.

OTHER RESULTS

UBMC B 8 (Glenn Fernandes 5 including hat-trick, Jeff, Sameer, Prakash) bt Young Stars, Santa Cruz 0; Holy Cross, Juhu 2 (Sabby Caldeira, Mario Caldeira) bt Saki Village Boys 0; United Boys, Vile Parle 2 (Saby D'Souza, Hansel Rodrigues) bt YMSC 1 (Jonathan Fernandes) via the tie-breaker; Yankees, Malad 5 (Jairzinho 3 hat-trick, Roshan D'Mello 2) bt Super Soccer 0; Remedians 2 (OscarSequeira, Dwayne Sequeira) bt Tiracol 1 (Anthony) via the tie-breaker.

Easy for Century

Century Rayons beat St Xavier's 6-0 in the Veterans floodlit rink football tournament, sponsored by Ray Cardoza & Co, at the St Xavier's school ground (Vile Parle). P Jayanad (4 including hat-trick), S Rodrigues and F Pereira were the scorers.

Borivli Vets defeated Romania 3-1. John Alphonso (2) and JB Quadros scored for the winners and Frank reduced the margin for the losers.

Sanjay Mande champ

Former National champion and unseeded Sanjay Mande stunned top seed Milind Kulkarni 23-22, 25-12 in the men's singles final of the second Thane District Ranking carrom tournament, organised by Sainath Seva Mandal, Bhayandar, today.