Advani, Srikrishna storm into quarters

Mumbai, Aug 16 (PTI) Pankaj Advani, representing ONGC, and S. Srikrishna (BPCL) scored identical 4-0 victories to storm into the quarter-finals of the Senior Snooker event at the Western India Billiards and Snooker Championships here on Friday.

The Benguluru-based Advani, winner of 27 world titles, brushed aside the challenge of Railways’ Siddharth Parikh, charging to a 65-14, 71-60, 63-8, and 64-20 victory.

Chennai-based Srikrishna played steady to blank Md Hussain Khan (Rlys) 65-27, 69-34, 68-39, and 65-14.

Railways’ Faisal Khan rallied from two frames down to register a 4-2 (30-74, 2-79, 75-13, 69-27, 58-29, 78-19) win against Mumbai’s Rayaan Razmi and secure a place in the quarter-final.

Reigning national champion Sourav Kothari (ONGC) also progressed to the quarter-finals defeating West Bengal’s Saqlain Mushtaque 4-1 (71-8, 44-60, 92-24, 66-15, 91-0).

Former National champion Kamal Chawla received a walkover from Aditya Mehta, who reported sick.

Results: Senior snooker — Pre-quarter-finals: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) bt Saqlain Mushtaque (WB) 4-1 (71-8, 44-60, 92-24, 66-15, 91-0); Kamal Chawla (Rlys) W/o Aditya Mehta (IOCL); S. Srikrishna (BPCL) bt Md Hussain Khan (Rlys) 4-0 (65-27, 69-34, 68-39, 65-14); Shoaib Khan (Del) bt Sparsh Pherwani (Mum) 4-2 (75-10, 67-23, 67-28, 36-75, 45-71, 63-37); Faisal Khan (RSPB) bt Rayaan Razmi (Mum) 4-2 (30-74, 2-79, 75-13, 69-27, 58-29, 78-19); Anuj Uppal (Del) bt Digvijay Kadian (Har) 4-2 (68-50, 35-69, 70-25, 1392, 75-68, 67-41); Pankaj Advani (ONGC) bt Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) 4-0 (65-14, 71-60, 63-8, 64-20).