CCI BILLIARDS CLASSIC 2024
5 foreign challengers for CCI Billiards Classic 2024
15-Mar-2024
Peter Gilchrist
Mumbai, March 15: Five foreign cueists -- Peter Gilchrist of Singapore, winner of multiple world titles and Englishmen David Causier, a 7-time world champion, Peter Sheehan, Chris Taylor and last year’s runner-up Rob Hall, have confirmed their participation and will be the star attractions during the Rs 10.15 lakh prize-money CCI Billiards Classic 2024, organized by the Cricket Club of India, and which is set to commence at the Sir Wilson Jones billiards hall from March 21, 2024.
Besides the five legendary billiards pros from abroad, the Indian challenge will come from the country’s most decorated cueist and reigning champion Pankaj Advani, who has 27 world titles, Indian No. 1 and current National champion Dhruv Sitwala, National runner-up Sourav Kothari, Maharashtra No. 1 Mahesh Jagdale, former world champions Rupesh Shah, Ashok Shandilya, Devendra Joshi, Dhvaj Hariam Brijesh Damani, Siddharth Parikh, Hasan Badami and S. Srikrishna to name a few.
The leading 24 players will be joined by eight qualifiers in the main draw. The 32 players will be divided into eight groups of four each and the initial phase will be played on a round-robin league basis. The top two from each group will progress to the knockout pre-quarter-finals. The initial rounds will be played over a two-hour format.
At stake is a whopping championship winners’ cheque of Rs 250,000 and a handsome trophy and a runner-up cheque of Rs 150,000 and a trophy. The losing semi-finalist will receive Rs 75,000 each, the losing quarter-finalists will get Rs 40,000 each, the pre-quarter-final losers will pocket Rs 15,000 each and the 16 players from the groups who fail to qualify for the knockout phase will take home a consolation prize of Rs 10,000 each. An award of Rs 50,000 will be presented to the player who constructs the highest break (500 points and over).
The 24 players seeded in the main draw: Peter Gilchrist (Singapore), David Causier, Peter Sheehan, Chris Taylor, Rob Hall (all England), Pankaj Advani, Dhruv Sitwala, S. Srikrishna, Rupesh Shah, Alok Kumar, Siddharth Parikh, Kamal Chawla, Rohan Jambusaria, Aaditya Agarwal, Rayaan Razmi, Dhavaj Haria, Shahyan Razmi, Loukic Pathare, Vishal Madan, Sourav Kothari, Devendra Joshi, Ashok Shandilya, Arun Agarwal, V. Subramanian.