Fancied Pankaj Advani (PSPB), who emerged champion in the last three editions, saw his reign come to an end as he suffered a defeat at the hands of Kreishh Gurbaxani (Mumbai), who pulled off a brilliant 4-2 (74-34, 38-68, 16-78, 76-14, 119-0, and 78-21) win in a Main Draw round of 16 match of the Rs 13.5 lakh CCI Snooker Classic 2026 and played at the Cricket Club of India’s Wilson Jones billiards hall on Thursday.
Kreishh Gurbaxani (Mumbai), pulled off a brilliant 4-2 against three-time champion Pankaj Advani in a round-16 match.
Gurbaxani, who competes on the World Snooker Tour, started with a run of 41 to win the opening frame. The balls did not roll favorably for Advani, who seemed to be out of sorts. But, he still managed to win the next two with decent breaks of 52 and 45 to grab the lead.
Thereafter, Gurbaxani who was cool and composed and with clever tactical play won the subsequent three frames on the trot to script a deserving victory. The icing on the cake was a superb break of 102 in the fifth frame before snatching the sixth to close out the win.
Haryana cueist Digvijay Kadian was at his striking best and compiled four impressive breaks to inflict a 4-2 defeat on Mumbai’s Rrahul Sachdev in another round 16 encounter. Kadian coached by former National champion Alok Kumar played steadily and with a sequence of breaks of 53, 50, 91 and 63 sealed his win. Sachdev had a solitary run of 86 in winning the fifth frame.
India No. 2 Aditya Mehta (PSPB) was in complete control as he charged past I.H. Manudev 4-1 (52-43, 101-8, 69-6, 46-82, 60-63) to progress to the quarter-finals.
Earlier, Mumbai challenger and home cueist Kanishk Jhanjaria was in superb potting form and constructed two notable breaks of 68 (3rd frame) and 77 (5th frame) to score a stunning 4-1 (66-14, 23-65, 68-1, 74-46, 77-7) win against Md Hussain Khan in a round of 32 match.
Young Shaayan Razmi also from Mumbai scored a convincing 4-2 (91-30, 61-52, 58-86, 28-57, 64-15, 54-11) win in another round-32 encounter.
Results – Main Draw R-16: Digvijay Kadian beat Rrahul Sachdev 4-2 (16-74, 72(53)-28, 84(50)-35, 92(91)-0, 0-86(86), 71(63)-12);
Kreishh Gurbaxani bt Pankaj Advani 4-2 (74(41)-34, 38-68(52), 16-78(45), 76-14, 119(102)-0, 78-21);
Aditya Agarwal beat I.H. Manudev 4-1 (52-43, 101(93)-8, 69-6, 46-82, 60-63);
R-32: Mushtaq Khan beat Pinak Anap 4-2 (90(52)-00, 8-55, 0-105(93), 68-22, 91(57)-32, 75(51)-1);
Manan Chandra beat Faisal Khan 4-1 (59-15, 70-29, 71-46, 47-63, 71-28);
Kanishk Khanjaria beat Md Hussain Khan 4-1 (66-14, 23-65, 68(68)-1, 74-46, 77(77)-7);
Shahyan Razmi beat Vijay Nichani 4-2 (91(40)-30, 61-52, 58-86, 28-57, 64-15, 54-11).