CCI Billiards Classic 2024: World Champion Pankaj Advani fires in with top 305 break

World champion Pankaj Advani of India oozed class with a triple century break of 305 as he tamed compatriot Rovin D’Souza and cruised to a comprehensive 1197-156 point win in his opening Group-A league match of the All India CCI Billiards Classic here on Wednesday.

Advani, who last November won a grand double, triumphing the time format and long-up in the IBSF World Billiards Championship, played with sublime touch as he executed his shots with perfection and took complete control of the match.

Besides, Advani dominated the table for long periods and collected breaks of 188, 162, 191, 92 and 97, sailing to a fluent win.

Earlier, India’s number two Sourav Kothari, and Peter Sheehan of England were also in good touch, recording sizable breaks during their respective opening group matches.

Kothari, who had lost to Advani in both the finals of the World Championship, proved too good for Mumbai challenger Rishabh Kumar, breezing to a decisive 915-160 win in his Group-F league match.

Kothari presented excellent touch and control, starting with a flourish and stitching together a couple of double century breaks — 235 and 283 — aided by a century effort of 160, as he knocked the fight out of Kumar. He had two more impressive runs of 78 and 85.

On another table, Sheehan was in a flaming form, storming past another Mumbai cueist, Rajeev Sharma, and charging to a convincing 1161-280 conquest in his Group-G league meeting.

Sheehan formed the tournament’s top break of 291 before rolling in three more century efforts of 198, 121 and 184, along with breaks of 86, 73 and 72, as he demolished his opponent.

Indian stars Rupesh Shah and Dhvaj Haria, both from Gujarat, also recorded double-century breaks during their opening-round victories.

Former World champion Shah collected an unfinished run of 221 during his 791-247 win against Nishant Dossa of CCI in his Group-B match. He also came up with breaks of 198, 121, 184, 86, 73 and 72.

Meanwhile, the lanky left-handed Haria outplayed Mumbai’s Loukic Pathare 834-384. The Gujarati’s best effort was a break of 239 and a couple of runs of 125, 141, 86 and 89 to ensure his success.

National champion and India number one, Dhruv Sitwala, was not at his best. However, he managed to put it across Rishabh Thakkar 497-252 in his Group-E contest.

Sitwala constructed breaks of 106, 96 and 80, whereas Thakkar gathered breaks of 104 and 61.