Catholic Gymkhana ‘Crusaders’ sent up in smoke MBPT Sports Club’s hopes for a place in the last eight as they beat them 783-721 to storm into the quarterfinals of the Michael Ferreira Mumbai Billiards League knock-out tournament, held at P J Hindu Gymkhana on Wednesday. Derek Sippy and Alex D’Cruz were instrumental in Catholic Gymkhana’s fine victory.

In another pre-quarterfinal tie, Park Club Cavaliers handed Matunga Gymkhana an almost 100-point defeat. Park Club notched up 755 points to the Matunga side’s 658.

The Cathloic Gymkhana-MBPT tie was quite an engrossing affair. Sandeep Vengurlekar gave MBPT a solid start by beating Clyde Alphonso 200-130. Derek, however, who was placed almost on par with his rival D.G.Kasar on handicap, brought Catholic Gymkhana back in the picture with a 200-122 win. And Alex put the icing on the cake by scoring over Anil Waghmare 193-139. The quarterfinal line up: Bombay Gym vs Elphintone CC; Catholic Gym vs Shivaji Park Gym; Park Club vs North India Assn; Central Rly Mech Inst. vs P.J.Hindu Gym.

Results: Park Club bt Matunga Gym 755-658: Amit Sapru (+70) bt Ankit Thakker (+75) 200-166; Vishal Gehani (+70) bt Ajay Agarwal (+75) 200-154. Sanjeev Bijlanmi (+80) bt Naresh Sadarangani (+80) 140-103. Catholic Gym bt MBPT Sports Club 783-721: Clyde Alphonso (+100) lost to Sandeep Vengurlekar (+80) 130-200; Derek Sippy (+80) bt D.G.Kasar (+85) 200-122; Alex D’Cruz (+80) bt Anil Waghmare (+95) 193-139.