Reigning champion Pankaj Advani launched the defense of his title on a promising note. He recorded an authoritative 4-1 frame scores win against Taha Khan in a best-of-7-frame first round match of the Rs 12.5 lakh prize-money CCI Snooker Classic 2024, organised by the Cricket Club of India and played at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall late Tuesday evening.
Pankaj Advani: Reigning champion Pankaj Advani recorded an authoritative 4-1 win against Taha Khan in a round of 64 match.
India’s most celebrated cue sports player, Advani, winner of 27 World championship crowns, started in rousing fashion constructing a break of 120 in the first frame. The Bengaluru-based Advani then narrowly won the second before neatly compiling a break of 130 to win the third to race to a 3-0 lead. However, Advani was denied a clean sweep as Khan did well to pocket the fourth frame. Advani not prepared to waste much time comfortably won the fifth to complete a 120-1, 68-58, 130-1, 43-81 and 69-1 victory.
On the adjacent table, former National champion, Ishpreet Singh Chadha also got to business as usual and sidelined Neeraj Kumar cruising to a 4-0 (93-13, 73-53, 88-13, and 86-7) victory. Ishpreet, the lone Indian currently competing in the professional circuit, constructed notable breaks of 63 and 48 in the first and second frames.
Meanwhile, Habib Sabah of Bahrain the World Masters snooker champion, stamped his class carving out a fluent 4-0 win against Abhijeet Ranade in another first round match. Sabah rolled in breaks of 59 in the second frame and signed off with a bang compiling a 80-point break to wrap up the contest posting a 82-0, 74-6, 57-53 and 80-7 victory.
In an interesting and keenly contested match, home challenger Hasan Badami ground out a hard-fought 4-3 (90-1, 71-57, 53-65, 21-63, 78-27, 58-52, and 61-50) win against Shabaz Khan to advance into round of 16. In a match of fluctuating fortunes Badami had one decent break of 50 in the third while Khan had a run of 54 in the second.
Nitesh Madaan also progressed the round of 16 as he defeated Sparsh Pherwani 4-2 (1-66, 64-50, 17-62, 61-31, 73-45, and 66-53) in a long drawn match.
Results – Round of 32: Hasan Badmi beat Shabaz Khan 4-3 (90-1, 71-57(54), 53(50)-65, 21-63, 78-27, 58-52, 61-50); Kamal Chawla bt Dilip Kumar 4-2 (70-30, 37-73, 111(111)-24, 5-93(48,43), 69-31, 70-30); Shivam Arora bt Anurag Bagri 4-1 (60-38, 76-56, 30-78, 56-31, 65-34); Vijay Nichani bt Rajat Kaneja 4-2 (53-59, 78(46)-1, 1-74, 71-30, 81(69)-31, 65(56)-28); Rayaan Razmi bt Mudasir Ashiak 4-2 (43-56, 88-5, 98-20, 34-60, 73(73)-4, 60-36); Faisal Khan bt Alfie Lee (UK) 4-1 (87-14, 91-49, 74-35, 10-67, 107(52)-17); J. Varunkumar bt Nikhil Saigal 4-2 (73-13, 57-38, 52-61, 31-77, 57-42, 55-50); Pushpinder Singh bt Abhishek Bajaj 4-0 (68-13, 66-33, 61-48, 68-36); Digvijay Kadian bt Hrithik Jain 4-0 (68-13, 75-26, 63-34, 115(87)-5); Stephen Lee (UK) bt Nikhil Ootam 4-1 (62-48(40), 56-28, 60-13, 33-65, 59-51); Nitesh Madaan bt Sparsh Pherwani 4-2 (1-66, 64-50, 17-62, 61-31, 73-45, 66-53);
Round of 64: Pankaj Advani bt Taha Khan 4-1 (120(120)-1, 68-58, 130(130)-1, 43-81, 69-1); Habib Sabah bt Abhijeet Ranade 4-0 (82-0, 74(59)-6, 57-53, 80(80)-7); Ishpreet Singh Chadha bt Neeraj Kumar 4-0 (93(63)-13, 73(48)-53, 88-13, 86-7);