Mumbai, March 3 – The best Indian cue sport players, including top names like 27-time IBSF World Champion Pankaj Advani, will be the main attraction in the prestigious CCI Snooker Classic 2026, which is set to begin at the iconic Cricket Club of India's Wilson Jones Billiards Hall from March 6.
Advani, the current national and Asian snooker champion, has won the last three titles in a row in the biggest snooker event in Western India. Besides Advani, Ishpreet Singh, Aditya Mehta, Kamal Chawla, Faisal Khan, and Brijesh Damani, among others, are scheduled to participate in the tournament.
The tournament will begin with the qualifying rounds, which will be played over three stages. The sixteen winners from the third stage will earn the right to challenge the 16 seeded players in the fourth stage, the main knockout draw.
With a total prize pool of ₹13.5 lakh, the tournament promises intense competition across the first three stages. The knockout round promises to witness exciting battles for supremacy. The champion will receive a prize of ₹3.5 lakh, while the runner-up will receive ₹1.75 lakh.
The final is scheduled for March 22.
In the previous year's edition, Advani had achieved a remarkable turnaround, showcasing his resilience and intense fighting spirit as he made a grand comeback to beat Ishpreet Singh Chadha 8-6 in the final of the ₹13.5 all-India snooker tournament. Advani won with scores of 15-57, 26-101, 18-75, 100-25, 36-93, 118-0, 59-68, 45-77, 64-47, 93-72, 70-60, 75-32, 73-32, and 75-47 in a hard-fought final played over three grueling sessions.
For his outstanding performance, Advani was presented with the champion's trophy and a cheque of ₹3.5 lakh, while Ishpreet received the runner-up trophy and an award of ₹1.75 lakh.
