Markers' day out at Islam Gym

MUMBAI: It is show-time for the markers again at Islam Gymkhana. The markers are faceless figures in the background of brightly lit billiards and snookers tables in posh clubs, helping the game continue and, more often than not, training beginners.Starting Monday , more than 100 such unsung heroes will vie for recognition and glory at Islam Gymkhana when a tournament, to be played on a 6 red ball with all international rules applicable, gets underway .
"It is a tribute to the tireless efforts that the markers put in day after day . In fact some of the markers have been instrumental in shaping the carrier of some great players of our country. This is pay back time," said Iqbal Khakhu, the brain behind the event. "We at Islam Gym wanted to give markers an opportunity to showcase their skills," he added.
The matches will be played on best-of-five frames for the initial round while final will be of best-of-nine. Prizes include Rs 15000 for the winner, Rs 8000 for the runners-up, apart from others. "If we get substantial sponsorship, we would like to pay some amount to every participant," informed Khaku.
Deshpande bowls SPG to first win
Mumbai: Shivaji Park Gymkhana became the only team to record an outright victory this season so far in the Dr HD Kanga League `A' Division for the Police Shield, when they beat Victory CC by seven wickets to collect full points.
SPG's hero was mediumpacer Tushar Deshpande, who returned a match haul of nine for 121.
BRIEF SCORES:
Division `A': Victory CC 49 (Tushar Deshpande 6-26, Siddhesh Kinlekar 3-9) & 178-8 decl (Krunal Nar 42; Tushar Deshpande 3-55, Ramesh Powar 3-26) lost to Shivaji Park Gymkhana 95 (BS Sandhu 5-23, Vikrant Yeligeti 3-27) & 133-3 (Larson D'Costa 50*, Siddhesh Kinlekar 34*) by 7 wkts. Parsee Gymkhana 153 (Ankit Revandkar 41; Atif Attarwala 7-33) lost to National CC 198-5 decl (Siddhesh Lad 42, Rohan Raje 63) on first innings.Sind SC 216-8 decl (Jaideep Pardeshi 103; Kalpesh Sawant 3-52) drew with New Hind SC 90-3 (Sangram Bagul 30*). CCI 293 (Sachin Yadav 40, Nikhil Patil Jr. 79, Wilkin Mota 64; Usman Malvi 3-75, Badree Alam 3-90) drew with Payyade 120-2 (Bravish Shetty 38*). Fort Vijay 323-8 decl (Vishal Chitrakar 61, Gandhar Bhatwadekar 84, Sanket Bhaye 97; Sudhakar Siddul 6-79) drew with Mumbai Police 132-3 (Sunil Patil 44, Shahid Shaikh 63). Karnataka SA 175-5 decl (Shivam Dubey 48*, Harshad Rawle 40) lost to Muslim United 178-8 decl. on first innings lead.MIG 182 (Kevin Almeida 90; Pravin Tambe 5-78, K Waingankar 340) lost to Dr DY Patil SA 281-6 (Subramaniam D 59, Shashank Singh 90, Shubham Ranjane 56) on first innings lead.