Mumbai, March 1 (HS). Kamal Chawla entered the last 8 with a stunning 5-0 win against Ishpreet Singh Chaddha in the best of 9-frame match of the round of 16 at the Snooker Classic 2024 organized by the Cricket Club of India on Thursday evening. This tournament with a prize money of Rs 12.5 lakh is being played at CCI's Sir Wilson Jones Billiards Hall.
The tall, lanky Chawla stuck to the basics and maintained his simplicity against Chadha, who surprisingly failed to put up a fight. Chawla took advantage of the opportunities to make small but useful breaks, which helped him win with good scores of 83-4, 53-36, 92-5, 70-14 and 77-14.
Reigning champion Pankaj Advani defeated young Digvijay Kadian 5-3 (37-81, 83-40, 41-83, 6-98, 94-2, 73-23, 67-5 and 94-34). Advani got the only break of 72 in the eighth frame, while Kadian got the break of 94 in the fourth frame.
Bahrain cueist and IBSF World Masters Snooker champion Habib Saba bowed out after losing 3-5 to Laxman Rawat.
Laxman accepted the challenge and made breaks of 80, 60 and 66 to overcome the Bahraini player, who struggled a bit, managing only a big effort of 54. Rawat won by 60-69, 60-66, 80-48, 64-36, 88-49, 77-19, 45-71 and 81-54.
Meanwhile, home challenger Hassan Badami's brilliant run came to an end as he suffered a 3-5 defeat at the hands of Tamil Nadu's Vijay Nichani in the round of 16. Both Nichani and Badami played well below their best and missed some easy pots and as a result there was not a single notable break in the match. Nachani, who managed 47 breaks in the third frame, won 21-71, 65-48, 79-29, 13-77, 67-39, 14-67, 51-30 and 62-43.
Mumbai's talented 21-year-old cueist Ryan Razmi continued his impressive performance and won the J. Won by defeating Varun Kumar 5-1. Razmi performed with confidence and consistency and won 94-26, 66-50, 74-26, 25-135, 83-39 and 71-2 to advance to the quarter-finals.