Mumbai: Snooker professional Ishpreet Singh Chadha (PSPB) came up with a brilliant performance and made history by compiling the maximum break of 147 during his 5-0 victory against Dilip Kumar of Railways in a best-of-9-frame quarterfinal match in the all-India CCI Snooker Classic 2025 being played at the CCI’s Wilson Jones Billiards Hall here on Friday.
The stupendous effort was Mumbai-based Ishpreet’s maiden maximum in an open tournament and made him the third Indian after legendary cueists Geet Sethi (Gujarat) and Aditya Mehta (Mumbai) to construct a break of 147. Sethi, winner of multiple National titles, had achieved the mark during the 1988 Guntur Nationals. Mehta, a former National champ representing PSPB, constructed a 147 during the Asian Games selection tournament in Bangalore in 2013 and again in a tournament in Germany on the pro circuit.
The 28-year-old Ishpreet, who participates in the World Snooker Tour, is coached by legendary two-time Asian snooker champion Yasin Merchant at the Khar Gymkhana. Ishpreet put on a fine exhibition of his brilliance and the few die-hard cue sports enthusiasts were fortunate to witness the historic moment.
Ishpreet displayed composure and poise and played confidently. He showed impeccable touch and control and struck the balls with precision to get into perfect positions to play his shots. He played some astonishing pots before he polished the balls from the table to complete his remarkable feat.
“Oh, wow! Exclaimed Sethi over the phone from Ahmedabad on hearing about Ishpreet’s record. “This is wonderful news for Indian snooker. It’s moving in the right direction. It’s almost 40 years since I made the maximum. I congratulate Ishpreet on his magnificent effort,” he further said.
Coach Merchant was excited but not surprised. “Yes. This is his (Ishpreet’s) first maximum. This is just the start and we will get to witness many, many more to come,” a delighted Merchant said.
At an adjacent table, current Asian snooker and National snooker champion Pankaj Advani also showed his class defeating Malkeet Singh of Railways 5-1. Earlier, qualifier Faisal Khan of Railways continued with his outstanding run of form as he churned out another sparkling performance to inflict a crushing 5-0 defeat on National runner-up and India No. 2 Brijesh Damani (PSPB) in a lop-sided quarter-final match.
On the side table, former National champion Kamal Chawla put up a steading display and dashed the hopes of CCI member Hasan Badami, romping to a 5-1 (76-77, 63-49, 62-27, 56-8, 66-7, and 71-51) victory. In the last-16 round matches which finished late Thursday night, Badami played with plenty of grit and determination to send Thailand’s Dechawat Poomjeang crashing out by recording a deserving 4-3 (77-15, 85-43, 8-63, 50-40, 25-74, 60-65, and 84-23) victory.
(IANS)
