In a remarkable turnaround, which showcased his resilience and intense fighting spirit, reigning National and Asian snooker champion Pankaj Advani completed a hat-trick of titles with a comeback 8-6 finale win over Ishpreet Singh Chadha in the Rs 13.5 lakh CCI Snooker Classic 2025, an all-India tournament, played at the CCI’s Wilson Jones billiards hall on late Sunday night. Pankaj triumphed 15-57, 26-101, 18-75, 100-25, 36-93, 118-0, 59-68, 45-77, 64-47, 93-72, 70 -60, 75-32, 73-32, 75-47 in a hardfought final played over three gruelling sessions.
Pankaj for his sterling efforts was presented with the champions’ trophy and a cheque of Rs 3.5 lakhs, while Ishpreet received the runner-up trophy and an award of Rs 1.75 lakhs.
The Bengaluru-based Pankaj is clearly at home in The CCI snooker room, as he registered his third title on the trot. What is remarkable is that Pankaj was staring at the barrel, down 2-6 against Ishpreet in the best of 15 frames encounter.
Apart from his potting skills, what came to the fore was Pankaj’s technical superiority, especially his safety play as he hunkered down to deliver a snooker masterclass.
That Pankaj has Ishpeet’s number is evident from the fact that he repeated his NSCI ‘Baulkline 3.0’ win over Ishpreet which occurred last year.
Ishpreet started positively and constructed breaks of 101 and 61 to win the opening three frames. Pankaj compiled a break of 55 to pocket the fourth and halt Ishpreet’s run.
But then Ishpreet seized control and surged ahead to lead 6-2. At this stage he wanted just a couple more frames to seal the deal.
What too, Pankaj did not lose another single frame thereafter to wind up with another trophy to add to his extensive and burgeoning collection of titles.
“When two good players are contesting a high quality game and it’s a high-stake game, especially a final it certainly brings out the best from each other. I started really slowly, I thought the match was his to lose after being 4-1 and 6-2 up. But I just hung in there. Sometimes you have to just do that and I am so glad that I could turn it around and take it away from him (Ishpreet) who made a 147 and probably played the best snooker in the entire tournament,” said a composed Pankaj.
“Ishpreet definitely played better snooker in the first half, but in the second I put up a better performance. I did not make big breaks but I think I played steady snooker and it paid off,” he further stated.
CCI & BSAM fete Ishpreet Singh
The Cricket Club of India honoured Ishpreet Singh Chadha by presenting him with a cheque of Rs 1.47 lakhs for creating history at the club. In his quarter-final match against Dilip Kumar on Thursday, Ishpreet meticulously constructed the maximum break of 147 in the fourth frame during his 5-0 triumph.
Sanju Kothari, Chairman, CCI Billiards Sub-Committee said, “Ishpreet made us at CCI proud by making the maximum break of 147 on our table during the CCI Classic Snooker 2025. It’s befitting to felicitate him for his glorious feat.”
The Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra (BSAM) also felicitated Ishpreet by awarding a cheque of Rs 1.47 lakhs.
Ishpreet is only the third Indian after Geet Sethi (Ahmedabad) and Aditya Mehta (Mumbai). Sethi achieved his feat during the 1988 National championship in Guntur while Mehta compiled the maximum at the Asian Games Indian team selection camp in 2013 in Bangalore. Mehta made another maximum break in Germany on the pro circuit in 2014.
Results (final): 15-57, 36-101(101), 18-75(61), 100(55)-25, 36-93, 118(60)-0, 59-68(68), 45-77, 64-47, 93-72, 70-60(60), 75-37, 73-32, 75-47).