The Carom Diaries - C20 Day 11 - 05 Oct 2012

After much delibration by the OCC (ODC Carom Committee) & FFC (Fun Friday Committee) comprising of IamME and Gajanan, it was decided that finals would be played in best of three format with each game restricted to ten minutes.

With fun Friday atmosphere looming around, it was the most anticipated day of the month. With carom as the theme, everyone had dressed up in black or white. It was a sight to behold as the 30+ strong crowd, all attired similarly entered the field of play along with the finalists who shone contrastingly in bright Red.

Finals : Tejas/Gayathri vs Ganesh/Giridhar

Toss: Tejas/Gayathri

Match Report:
09:30 – Gayathri practicing with IamME and Gajanan.
09:50 – IamME and Gajanan left. Gayathri still practicing.
10:00 – Tejas arrives and joins Gayathri.
10:30 – Both return.
10:35 – Ganesh to Giri - Gayathri is in supreme form. Life is tough for us today.
10:36 – Giri to Ganesh – Don’t worry dude. 2 matches and we’ll be the champions.
13:15 – Match begins.

Game 1:
From the very first moment Tejas made his intentions very clear. He didn’t respond to the calls of “5^th floor”, “super partner” or “GRS”. If at all anyone wanted to see how a serious Tejas would look like, this was the occasion. Ganesh continued his tradition of removing the tag from his neck and handing it over to IamME. Silly superstitions I say!

Both being high quality teams, the match progressed smoothly without any comical twist in it. People like Ashish/Sau/Prashanth/Tiju were missed dearly. Ganesh, with his new found form was matching Giri shot for shot as they both overtook their opponents very quickly. Tejas/Gayathri, inspite of the practice were left to play the catch up game.

Though they did catch up in the nick of time with the last pawn remaining for both the teams, Giri ensured that they were no hiccups, surged ahead and finished off the game in 3min 52sec.

Ganesh/Giridhar – 1, Tejas/Gayathri – 0

Game 2:
Tejas/Gayathri were a confused lot as they didn’t know what to do. Inspite of their best efforts, they were hammered in the 1^st match. Their body language said it all. Whereas with one foot on the finishing line, Ganesh started the 2^nd match with aplomb. This match followed the same pattern as the first. Tejas/Gayathri had to play catching up right from the beginning thanks to skillful shots by Ganesh/Giri on the straight and rebound. Nobody moved from their place. Everyone's eyes were glued to the board as these players demonstrated how a professional match had to be played. By 4min 4 sec, the match was over with Ganesh/Giri winning it by 7 points.

Ganesh/Giridhar – 2, Tejas/Gayathri – 0

The crowd was vociferous in appreciating their effort. Lots of hugs, hi5s and shake-hands. Thus ended the story of how Ganesh/Giri became the 1st ever officially crowned C20 champions.

Winners: Ganesh/Giridhar

PS: This marks the end of the 1^st ever C20 tournament. It was a pleasure covering this tournament. Please have a look at the coverage of all the matches in case you havent already done so. I hope you would extend your patronage to this blog as I try to extend my scope of writing to other genres. Comments/Criticism are welcome. Hope to keep you entertained forever!

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How they reached Finals?
Ganesh/Giridhar
Tejas/Gayathri

Compiled by IamME

The Carom Diaries - C20 Day 10 - 03 Oct 2012

First time in sports history*, a double header for the semi-finals.
 
HEADLINES - Is there a natural slope only in Lord’s pitch? A new expert in the house to teach “due” techniques!! Annihilation gets a new meaning. Ganesh, back to form. Ashish Mishra gets life ban in carom. More such crazy news in the coverage today.
 
Semi Final 1: Tejas/Gayathri vs Sushil/Priyanka
 
Toss: Sushil/Priyanka
 
Match Report:
 The board used for this match resembled the Lord’s pitch with a natural slope towards one end. It was expected that whoever plays from that end (lets call it “Slope end”) would be at a slight disadvantage. Little did everyone expect that the best player of the match would play from Slope end. Yes, you guessed it right. It was Tejas!!
 
Tejas, fresh from a romanticrejuvenating trip was still reminiscing about the same when Gayathri reminded him about the match. Tejas ignored it and responded with his trademark smile. There was a noticeable change in Gayathri too, as she was blushing/laughing for anything and everything. Guess this had got to do something with her being on leave the previous week to celebrate a special occasion. Clearly both of them were underprepared for the match whereas Priyanka, who had been improving with every match was raring to go and was pretty confident of making it to the finals. Sushil had his hands full with other activities and decided to depend on his luck only.
 
For the 1^st time in this tournament, Tejas lost the toss. Without his “super partner” around, Gayathri was pretty convinced that it would be impossible to win. Priyanka was very good right from the beginning and was intent on clearing the board asap. Something was wrong with Gayathri as she played one junk shot after another. With Sushil playing the perfect support role for Priyanka, it was left to Tejas to put up a fight. He became serious. The eyes showed intent and his fingers produced magic as the black pawns started finding pockets at regular intervals.
 
Gayathri felt left out and decided to have some fun. When she hit it straight, it was a due. When she tried a rebound, it ended up in a due. When she didn’t try anything, it still became a due. And when it wasn’t a due, it was direct hit on the opponent’s pawn. So all the black pawns that Tejas had handled so expertly found their way back to the board in no time. Without warning, Sushil unleashed his own version of helicopter shot(trying for a straight pawn, but ending up with a random pawn which stands nowhere in the trajectory. But Sushil claimed that it was an intended shot) increasing the gulf between the teams. Sushil/Priyanka were just couple of shots away from going to final- red and follow up. Tejas put his best foot forward and leveled the match. Priyanka couldn’t get the rebound right. Gayathri, with her current form didn’t want to take a risk and relinquished her chance.
All eyes were on Sushil, as he decided to do something about it inspite of Priyanka’s repeated warnings. The helicopter shot was repeated and this time the random pawn happened to be the last white pawn at the Slope end (This time Sushil said that shot was unitended and attributed it to the slope). Thus the campaign ended for Sushil/Priyanka with the 1^st “burn” of the tournament. Gayathri put up a silly face as everyone hi-5d her and Tejas.
 
Winners: Tejas/Gayathri
 
How they reached SF?
Tejas/Gayathri
Sushil/Priyanka
 
Semi Final 2: Ganesh/Giridhar vs Anu/Saujanya
 
As the focus shifted from the 1^st SF to this match, the only question was – Can Anu/Sau do the impossible? With the “SAUscoop” fresh in everyone’s mind, some even believed that they could be the finalists.
 
Toss: Anu/Saujanya
 
Match Report:
Ganesh was still plagued by poor form. It was rumoured that Giri had nightmares about Sau thulping his team. Though he put up a brave face, his trembling hands showed the actual feelings J. Anu/Sau had spent quality time on the eve of the match practicing. Ashish Mishra predicted that they dont stand a chance against Ganesh/Giri aand wished them "get lost" instead of "all the best". This enraged Anu who complained to Sau who in turn banned Ashish and his commentary for life. And when Sau speaks, the world listens.
 
With Giri starting, the match went on expected lines with a few pawns being cleared in the 1^st chance. Anu showed a glimpse of her skills with the successful execution of a tricky shot, but couldn’t endure for longer. Ganesh showed signs of coming back to form with each passing shot. Sau started off with a bang, but had a rare off day. Unlike the previous matches, there was nothing noteworthy about her style of play here showcasing a perfect example of how disciplined effort kills natural talent. With Sau not in form, Giri breathed easy. His trembling hand became steady and he seemed to regain his lost touch (On a scale of 0-5, his talent score had actually reduced from 10 to 9). Feeling more encouraged, Ganesh announced his arrival to form with a few complicated shots. Anu couldn’t do much as her team lost the plot totally. Though she tried to reduce the margin of defeat, she couldn’t do any better than 9 points.
 
Banished to corner, Ashish put up a mocking all-knowing smile. Last I heard, Anu/sau have challenged Ashish to match in which his partner would be Mikey the pug.

Ganesh/Giri now face the formidable team of Tejas/Gayathri in the Finals.
 
Winners: Ganesh/Giridhar

PS: IamME is unable to write much in the matches involving Ganesh/Giri because they finish off their matches very quickly without giving much chance to the opposition. Hence others like Ashish Mishra come into the picture increasing the content wihout adding value to the context. In case you havent noticed, this sentence and the previous one does the same. :P
 
How they reached SF?
Ganesh/Giridhar
Anu/Saujanya
 
Compiled by IamME