Top Billiards and Snooker Talent to Contest in Western India Championship

Champion Pankaj Advani, and other top players, will participate in the Western India Billiards and Snooker Championship starting August 3. They will compete in senior billiards, senior snooker, and junior snooker categories, organized by Khar Gymkhana in collaboration with BSAM and BSFI. Significant cash prizes are at stake.

Multiple-time world champion Pankaj Advani and the current Asian and national billiards champion Dhruv Sitwala will be among the competitors at the Western India Billiards and Snooker Championship starting here on August 3. The competition will feature three categories: senior billiards, senior snooker, and junior snooker.

Other notable participants include current national snooker champion Sourav Kothari, Aditya Mehta, Laxman Rawat, Rupesh Shah, Dhvaj Haria, Alok Kumar, Siddharth Parikh, and S Srikrishna.

The senior snooker champion will be awarded prize money of Rs 2 lakh, while the runner-up will receive Rs 1.2 lakh. The senior billiards winner will get Rs 1 lakh, and the runner-up will receive Rs 50,000. In the junior category, the winner and runner-up will be awarded Rs 40,000 and Rs 20,000, respectively. 'There will also be prizes in the senior events for players who reach the last 16 and cash awards for the top breaks,' said the organisers in a release. The tournament is organised by Khar Gymkhana together with the Billiards & Snooker Association of Maharashtra (BSAM) and the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India (BSFI).

(With inputs from agencies.)