Mumbai’s Kreishh Gurbaxani ended Pankaj Advani’s three-title run with a 4-2 win in the CCI Classic Snooker 2026. Gurbaxani’s composed play and a century break sealed the upset, while other top cueists also advanced in the tournament.
Mumbai, March 19: 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, played at the Cricket Club of India’s Wilson Jones billiards hall on Thursday.
Gurbaxani outplays Advani
Gurbaxani, who competes on the World Snooker Tour, started with a run of 41 to win the opening frame. The balls did not roll favourably 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.
