Pankaj Advani leads impressive list for snooker tourney

Chennai: World and Asian Champion Pankaj Advani would be the cynosure of all eyes in the VIP Matrix All-India invitational snooker tournament beginning here tomorrow. The impressive field includes veteran and former World Billiards Champion Geet Sethi, Alok Kumar and Rupesh Shah besides others. In all, 24-cuiests have been divided into eight groups for the preliminary stage to decide upon the 16 qualifiers for the knockout rounds, which would also feature other top ranked players like Manan Chandra, Aditya Mehta, Kamal Chawla, Sourav Kothari and junior National champion Shahbaz Adil Khan. Advani remains the favourite to win the title, though he had lost in the second round of the knockout phase in the recently held World snooker championship in Hyderabad. This tournament would provide him the best chance to end the year on a winning note. Mumbaikar Mehta, who had won the Gymkhana Club event, would also be a tough customer. Kothari and Chawla besides former National champion Alok Kumar are also expected to come up with some fireworks. The event has set a benchmark in terms of the prize-money that totals to Rs 5.2 Lakh, including Rs 1.5 lakh to the winner, making it the richest snooker tournament to be held in India. The highest prize money offered so far in the country was Rs 1.3 lakh. PTI