Western India Billiards And Snooker Championships 2024: Pankaj Advani Begins In Style Outclassing Mumbai's Yogesh Rungta

India’s most accomplished billiards player Pankaj Advani of ONGC hogged the spotlight constructing a double-century break (208 points) and went on to outclass Mumbai’s Yogesh Rungta by a 945-194 margin in a 2-hour timed Men’s Senior billiards third round match of the Khar Gymkhana presents CR Realty-Western India Billiards and Snooker Championships 2024, played at the Khar Gymkhana billiards hall on Wednesday.

The Bengaluru-based Advani winner of 27 World titles, was in full flow and had two century efforts (133 & 122) and an 87 as he started with a bang.

Mumbai’s talented youngster Shahyan Razmi continued with his impressive form and defeated the experienced Loukic Pathare of Railways 666-360 in another third round clash. Shahyan on his first visit rolled in a break of 84 and a couple of visits later he stitched together a break of 83 and followed it up with a composed 72 to build a sizable lead over Pathare, who was not at his best.

Seasoned cueist Ashok Shandilya of Mumbai rode on his vast experience to outsmart Khar Gymkhana’s Tathya Sachdev 566-378. Shandilya's best effort was a 146, besides breaks of 73 and two efforts of 56 points. Tathya tried his best and managed a run of 90 and 57.

In snooker action, India’s National champion Sourav Kothari (ONGC) and former champion Kamal Chawla (Railways) eased into the pre-quarters. The Kolkata-based Kothari got the better of Railways R. Girish 4-1 (77-21, 70-31, 46-62, 79-11, and 67-55), while the Madhya Pradesh cueist Chawla with breaks of 57 and 47 in the opening two frames blanked J. Varun Kumar of Tamil Nadu 4-0 (108-11, 108-12, 61-58, and 64-1).

In other matches, Saqlain Mushtaque of West Bengal prevailed over Pune’s Shivam Arora 4-1 (24-58, 49-33, 76-9, 64-27, and 56-17) and Gujarat’s challenger Shashi Patel got the better of Devendra Joshi (BPCL) 4-2 (72-29, 16-66, 72-61, 87-42, 38-46, and 68-25).

Results: Senior snooker – Round 3: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) bt R. Girish (Rlys) 4-1 (77-21, 70-31, 46-62, 79-11, 67-55);

Saqlain Mushtaque (WB) bt Shivam Arora (Pune) 4-1 (24-58, 49-33, 76-9, 64-27, 56-17);

Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt J. Varun Kumar (TN) 4-0 (108(57)-11, 108(47)-12, 61-58, 64-1);

Shashi Patel (Guj) bt Devendra Joshi (BPCL) 4-2 (72-29, 16-66, 72-61, 87-42, 38-46, 68-25);

Laxman Rawat (IOCL) bt Hrithik Jain (MP) 4-2 (14-71, 83-60, 12-66, 71(56)-42, 71-10, 76-37);

Senior billiards – Round 3: Shahyan Razmi (Mum) bt Loukic Pathare (Rlys) 666(84,83,72)-360;

Ashok Shandilya (Mum) bt Tathya Sachdev (MP) 566(146,73,56,56)-378(90,57);

Mehul Sutariya (MAH) bt Rovin D'Souza 334-286;

S. Srikrishna (BPCL) bt Aryan Parulekar (Mum) 334(95,85)-283;

Pankaj Advani (ONGC) bt Yogesh Rungta (Mum) 945(208,133,122,87)-194;

Round 2: Rishabh Thakkar (Mum) bt Rohan Pai (Mum) 494(92,59,58,52,48)-157).