After trailing 0-2 at one point, veteran Tony Monteiro rolled back the years to enter the third round with a pulsating 3-2 win, in the Cricket Club of India (CCI) Platinum Jubilee Open Snooker Tournament at the CCI’s Wilson Jones Billiards Room on Monday.

Playing against his 21-year-old trainee Akief Haveliwala, octogenarian Monteiro rallied to a 10-52, 29-56, 53-17, 81-72, 65-44 second round win in the most exciting match of the day.

A legend on the domestic circuit at one time, Monteiro was staring at defeat after losing the opening two frames following a disastrous start.

But, battling poor vision and a weak body, he used his vast experience to teach young Haveliwala some lessons on the green baize.

Monteiro’s game was an amalgamation of brilliant safety play, remarkable snookers and impressive potting with a quivering elbow that left the packed CCI in absolute awe.

After snatching the third frame with small but significant breaks that kept his hopes alive, Monteiro held on to a narrow lead to snatch the fourth one in dramatic fashion.

Inspired by his remarkable comeback, Monteiro raced to a substantial lead early in the deciding fifth to leave his young opponent watching helplessly from the sidelines.

On a day of close second round matches, many of which went the distance, fancied junior Aditya Agrawal survived a torrid encounter before pulling off a hard-fought 64-18, 32-45, 52-29, 36-51, 70-28 win over Zulfikar Saria.

Others who also were forced to struggle were Pranit Ramchandani of Chennai who beat Siddharth Sogani 3-2, and Shoaib Khan who overcame Mumbai’s Anup Mahajan by the same margin.

Results (2nd Rd)