Mumbai, January 26: Indian No. 3 Ishpreet Singh Chadha of Mahrashtra was in sparkling form as he brilliantly constructed four substantial breaks in as many frames to register an authoritative 5-1 win against Pushpender Singh of Railway in a best-of-9-frame quarter-final match of the Cricket Club of India organized Rs 12.1 lakh prize-money CCI Snooker Classic 2023, and played at the CCI’s Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall on Thursday.
The National 6-red snooker champion, Ishpreet produced efforts of 58, 74, 84, and 73 in the opening four frames to take a healthy 4-0 lead. Pushpender, not prepared to give up, easily compiled a break of 76 to pocket the fifth and avoid a whitewash. However, Ishpreet did not take much to wrap up the contest as he potted steadily to take the sixth to complete a 82-1, 74-10, 84-5, 74-28, 43-84, and 65-22 victory.
In another one-sided last eight encounter, Indian No. 1 and National champion Kamal Chawla of Railway dished out a compact steady performance and went on to record a stunning win against PSPB cueist Laxman Rawat (PSPB) by a quick 5-0 (87-30, 52-50, 88-5, 77-19, 82-30) frame scores. Chawla's best efforts were 57 in the fourth and 82 in the fifth to seal the victory and book his place in the semi-final.
Earlier, India’s most celebrated cueist Pankaj Advani (PSPB), holder of 25 World titles, knocked out his compatriot Aditya Mehta (PSPB) by a comfortable 4-2 (79-34, 65-30, 37-79, 51-70, 63-20, and 69-49) scoreline in a pre-quarter-final match.
In another last 16 round encounter, Rawat defeated Shivam Arora of Maharashtra 4-2 (64-34, 80-33, 74-29, 33-67, 28-81, and 80-1).
Results – Round 16: Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Aditya Mehta (PSPB) 4-2 (79-34, 65-30, 37-79, 51-70(53), 63-20, 69-49); Laxman Rawat (PSPB) bt Shivam Arora (Mah) 4-2 (64-34, 80(74)-33, 74-29, 33-67, 28-81, 80-1);
Quarter-finals: Ishpreet Singh Chadha (Mah) bt Pushpender Singh (Rlys) 5-1 (82(58)-1, 74(74)-10, 84(84)-5, 74(73)-28, 43-84(76), 65-22); Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Laxman Rawat (PSPB) 5-0 (87-30, 52-50, 88-5, 77(57)-19, 82(82)-30);
