Kolkata's Saurav Kothari has kicked out Pankaj Advani in the final of the Nahar Group All-India Snooker championship played at Mumbai. He has managed to score his first ever major victory to upset the World No. 1 player.

Pankaj Advani was the two times winner of the world championship but Kothari has played his best to outclass Advani. In the summit clash he beat Advani by 81-1, 66-61, 37-62, 29-77, 72-38, 36-56, 77-0, 73-0, 60-45 points.

World's number one snooker player has been suspended from all tournaments. He was accused of taking $261000 bribe to lose frames. The chairman of World Snooker has also informed that he had taken the necessary steps as the news came out in the media.

Moreover the media has the footage in which Higgins and Pat Mooney making the bribe deal. So every thing is clear and transparent now.

Pankaj Advani has won the National title for the 20th time after defeating Brijesh Damani of West Bengal 8-7 in a thrilling final of the Six Red Snooker National Championship in Bangalore on Monday.

Pankaj was made to fight hard by his opponent for win as Pankaj won the match in the last frame by 25-54, 51-0, 43-9, 60-1, 29-5, 0-69, 36-33, 30-38, 31-35, 38-33, 6-48, 47-19, 11-65, 48-2, 33-2.

Pankaj lost the first frame but he came back strongly to win the next four frames by clearing four loose reds. Damani played an attacking game thereafter to take lead by 6-5 but Pankaj held his nerves to win the final frame and the match.

Chennai, Dec 24 : Aditya Mehta, the 24-year old from Mumbai, finished the year in style by winning the top prize of Rs. 1.5 lakh as he routed India No. 2 Sourav Kothari 7-3 in the final of the VIP Matrix All-India Invitational Snooker tournament here Thursday.

In a rather one-sided final, Mehta, the lone Indian on the professional circuit, was the steadier of the two as he took a 5-0 lead at the end of the first session while the Kolkata-based Kothari, who had beaten National champion Pankaj Advani in the semi-finals last night, failed to touch top form. Kothari received a runner-up cheque for Rs. 90,000.

Chennai, Dec 23 : National champion Pankaj Advani authored yet another fairytale fightback as he overcame a 1-4 deficit and won 5-4 against Delhi's Sandeep Gulati to enter the semi-finals of the Rs. 5.2 lakh VIP Matrix All-India snooker tournament here Wednesday.

Advani, the 24-year old Bangalorean will take on fellow-PSPB player Sourav Kothari in a repeat of the 2009 National championship final, while J Varun Kumar of Chennai meets Aditya Mehta of PSPB in the other semi-final scheduled at night.

Chennai, Dec 22 : It rained centuries in the VIP Matrix All-India Invitational snooker tournament here Tuesday with five breaks over the 100-mark being made.

First up was India No. 2 Sourav Kothari who showcased his pedigree with a fluent 4-1 win over Kamal Chawla while posting a break of 112 to enter the quarter-finals. He next meets Chennai veteran Rafath Habib who in turn notched a 113 and a 75 to upstage former National champion Alok Kumar 4-2.

Chennai, Dec 19 :Qualifier I. H. Manudev of Karnataka, the 35-year old former junior national champion, pulled off a fine 4-3 win against Siddharth Rao of Tamil Nadu in the opening Group A league match of the Rs 5.2 lakh VIP Matrix All-India invitational snooker tournament here Saturday.

Manudev, returning to the sport after nearly a decade in oblivion since winning the junior national snooker title in 1995, was a trifle fortunate to pull through against Rao, a Chennai-based IT professional.

Chennai, Dec 18 : The country's leading cueists, led by Pankaj Advani, will be vying for honours in the VIP Matrix All-India invitational snooker tournament beginning here Saturday.

The quality field apart, the event has set a benchmark in terms of the prize-money that totals to Rs. 5,20,000, including Rs. 1,15,000 to the winner, making it the richest snooker tournament to be held in India.    

Hyderabad, Nov 25 : Alfred Burden of England won the World snooker championship trophy, but it was the opponent whom he beat in Wednesday's final, Igor Figueiredo of Brazil, who emerged the hero.

The fact that there were more fans mobbing the 32-year old and ever-smiling Brazilian than the brash Londonner reflected the popularity or rather the lack of it of Burden, whose brashness and arrogance did not win him many friends.

Hyderabad, Nov 25 : Alfred Burden became the first from England in 11 years to win the men's World Snooker championship crown when he wore down Igor "Tiger" Figueiredo of Brazil 10-8 in a pulsating final, in which the fortunes swung crazily, here Wednesday.

Burden, the 33-year old from London, thus lived up to his billing of overwhelming title favourite based on form and ability. However, he was stretched to breakpoint by the
32-year old Brazilian who had won the hearts with a fairytale run through the fortnight-long tournament.

Hyderabad, Nov 24 : Ng On Yee, the 19-year old prodigy from Hong Kong, expectedly won the women's title in the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker championship with a convincing 5-1 win against 49-year old Kathy Parashis of Australia here Tuesday.

It was not so much the margin of victory as the manner in which Ng went about her task, especially in the latter half of the match when she was summoned for a dope test when leading 4-1. On her return, she kept her composure to take the sixth frame to become the first woman world champion from Hong Kong.

Hyderabad, Nov 24 : Darren Morgan of Wales regained the Masters title with ease as he outplayed defending champion Dene O'Kane 6-0 at the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker championship.

In a contest that ended close to midnight Monday, the 43-year-old Morgan, winner of the men's title in 1987 at Bangalore when the tournament was last held in India, wore down O'Kane who showed signs of his age (46) especially after losing the first frame that lasted a little more than an hour.

Hyderabad, Nov 23 : Igor Figueiredo of Brazil snuffed out the last of Indian challenge in the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker Championship when he zipped past a distracted Kamal Chawla 6-1 to enter the men's semi-finals here Monday.

The 32-year old Figueiredo will next go up against China's Yu Delu who dug himself out of a hole when trailing 1-4, then posted a brilliant 101 to beat Fung Kwok Wai of Hong Kong-China 6-5.

The other semi-final will be between title favourite Alfie Burden of England who took apart Anthony McGill of Scotland 6-1 and Phillip Williams of Wales who tamed the precocious Yuttapop Pakpoj of Thailand with a 6-3 decision.

Kamal Chawla kept India's hopes alive in the IBSF World Snooker Championship as he stormed into the quarterfinal of the men's event, while his compatriot Pankaj Advani and Yasin Merchant crashed out at HICC Hall in Hyderabad on Sunday.

The 21 years old Chawla knocked out Cyprus's Anthony Brabin 7-70, 51-69, 72-61, 120-14, 65-15, 73-53, 103-15 in the pre-quarterfinal encounter. Earlier in the day, Brabin had defeated Advani
77-59 70-45 71-11 44-77 65-55 02-62 30-65 67-23.

Hyderabad, Nov 21 : Indian cueists had a profitable outing with five players in the men's section and Geet Sethi (Masters) advancing in the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker championship here Saturday.

It was earlier scheduled that Saturday would be a rest day but the postponed matches from Friday's 7 p. m. session were played.

Sethi, trailing 1-3, played the worst shot imaginable to fluke the black, sitting on the top cushion into the centre pocket on way to defeating his long-time rival Chuchart Trirattanapradit from Thailand, the top seed, 4-3 to enter the Masters quarter-finals.

Hyderabad, Nov 18 : Alok Kumar continued his quiet and virtually unnoticed progress to the knock-out stage in the men's category as he wrapped up his fourth win in as many group matches of the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker championship here Wednesday.

The 41-year-old five times national snooker champion and winner of the Asian title may not enjoy a high visibility or a profile that some of his contemporaries do, but his versatility has never been in doubt as could be gauged by the four national billiards title he has won.

Hyderabad, Nov 17 : Pankaj Advani dropped three frames to Welshman Philip Williams before pulling through 4-3 in the men's league while Geet Sethi suffered a stunning defeat against Clive Thomson of New Zealand in the Masters section on the third day of the ONGC-IBSF World snooker championship, here Tuesday.

On the distaff side, India No. 2 Vidya Pillai roared to her third win, as did Anuja Chandra and Chitra Magimairajan in their respective groups to strengthen their chances of progressing to the next round.

The Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, England, happened to be the venue where history was written at the World Professional Billiards Championship, on Sunday - with the 24-year-old Indian cueist Pankaj Advani beating the defending champion and the nine times title holder Mike Russell, 2,030-1,253!

Advani's historic win at Leeds marks only the second time, in the 139-year-old records of the World Professional Billiards Championship, when an Indian has been able to clinch the title - the first Indian title-holder one being the Geet Sethi.

Niraj Khemka has won the State Billiards and Snooker Championships (SBSC) title for the second time after defeating Manish Jain in the final at the Bengal Rowing Club on Sunday.

Niraj won the senior title by defeating Manish by 4-2 as Manish was once again ill-fated, who lost the final for the third consecutive time.

Niraj started the match on a negative note as he lost the first two frames to Manish but he came back strongly to win the next four frames in a succession to clinch the title.

Maharashtra’s Yasin Merchant has stormed into the final of the Madras Gymkhana All India Snooker championship after defeating the top seeded Manan Chandra of Petroleum Sports Control Board on Friday.

Merchant, who had won Asian Championship twice in 1989 and 2001, outplayed the Indian no. 1 Manan by 5-1 in the semifinal match.

In the final of the tournament, Merchant will lock horns with Aditya Mehta of PSPB who has defeated the second seeded Sourav Kothari by 5-2.