Eight-time world billiards champion Pankaj Advani sizzled with the big breaks as he sailed into the knock out pre-quarter-finals of the Cricket Club of India (CCI) Classic Billiards and Snooker Tournament here today.
Advani won back-to-back matches against Siddharth Parikh of Railways and Maharashtra state selection junior champion Jaiveer Dhingra to top Group A in the billiards competition.
The Bangalore ace hit two century breaks against Parikh, who hit a 152 in reply, and missed another couple of century breaks by two points each, besides firing a delightful 225 against Dhingra.
Former Asian and national champion Alok Kumar of PSPB also recorded back-to-back wins against Railway cueists Shekhar Surve and Aditya Agrawal to qualify for the last-16 from Group C.
National champion Sourav Kothari, who fired the competition's highest break of 494 earlier, completed a clean sweep when he beat world bronze medallist Ashok Shandilya for his fifth straight win to qualify from Group B.
Results:
Group A: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Siddharth Parikh (CCI) 813(100,175,98,98)-441(152); Pankaj Advani bt Jaiveer Dhingra (PSPB) 852(162,225)-258.
Group B: Sourav Kothari (PSPB) bt Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 493(130,97)-403; I H Manudev (Ktk) bt Rohan Jambusaria (Mah) 583-327.
Group C: Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Shekhar Surve (Rlys) 647-348; Alok Kumar bt Aditya Agrawal (Rlys) 653(90)-389.
