As the Dar es Salaam Gymkhana Club (DGC) Cargo Star Snooker tournament ends today at the club, all hosts top players have kissed the event goodbye, leaving only hope to youngster Abbas Yusufali.
The latest upset for DGC was the dismissal of favourite Kalpesh Lavingia, who lost by 2-1 frames at the hand of Annadil Burhani’s Mohamed Patiwa in the Division A quarter-final held on Thursday night.
Lavingia was highly expected to enter into the final but he lacked his usual fire power only to join the likes of Manish Khattar and Akili Akberali who crashed out of the tournament this week.
Lavingia defeat leaves the club’s hope only to youngster Yusufali, who had a semifinal date against Patiwa yesterday night for a place in today’s final.
In the first semi-final that was played on Thursday night, Khuzema Kilango of Annadil Burhani beat Dilip Mandalia of Upanga Club 2-0, to book his place into the final.
If all goes well to Patiwa, the snooker fans will observe an all-Annadil Burhani final tie today which will make history since the tournament started few years ago.
However, Patiwa who is in good form will have to overcome Yusufali resistance as the youngster already ousted DGC top players like Akberali and Khattar in his way to the semi-final. DGC has never allowed any other club to dominate the game of snooker, but Annadil Burhani players had all the chance to change that.
Zully Ladha of Upanga Club and hosts Abraham Sykes were in action yesterday night for Division B final as Arif Jiwa of DGC and Hasmukh Mandalia of Upanga Club were fighting for the third place.
Snooker secretary Fatema Yusufali told the ‘Daily News on Saturday’ that Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports Fenella Mukangara will present trophies to winners in the evening prize giving ceremony after the final. The three-week long tournament is sponsored by Cargo Star Ltd.