Pankaj Advani does Nation proud - adds another World title

                                           While most  can easily identify all the players who played for India in this ICC WC 2023, unlikely that many would identify this stylish looking person !!    - He is a Champion !

 

Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as cushions.  Despite Billiards not being one of the most popular games in India, it is interesting to know that the county has been home to a horde of prodigious billiards players who have enthralled the audience with their artistry and genius. 

Those following would remember Wilson Jones who won the  World Amateur Billiards Championship in 1958 giving  India its first world champion in any sport.  Then came Bombay Tiger Michael Ferreira, who  won the world Billiards champion four times.  Then came a player from Central Railway Ashok Shandilya remembered for wining double gold medal at Asian Games held in Bangkok in Dec 1998.  Then for a couple of decades the games were dominated by Geet Sethi who  astounding eight world billiards titles and is widely regarded as one of the best the game has ever seen. 

Billiards also called Carom billiards is a cue sport where the player strikes the billiard balls, moving them around the table.  In the game of billiards, there are only three balls used.  Then there is another pool game Snooker, played on a table similar to a pool table but uses nine to 15 balls.  Billiards table has no pockets, has three balls -  red, white (with a spot), and another white one (without a spot). Pool involves a table with six pockets and 15 balls – all of them do  not have a number but are all red. There are also  six object balls, which are numbered, along with one cue ball. 

Pankaj Arjan Advani does Nation proud playing Billiards as also Snooker. Indian billiards and professional snooker player. He is a 26-time International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) world champion.

 

The good news from Doha is - Indian cueist Pankaj Advani has won the IBSF World Billiards Championship title beating compatriot Sourav Kothari in the final. It is his 26th world title. Advani defeated Kothari 1000–416 in a rematch of last year's title clash in Kuala Lumpur. He had won his first world title in this competition way back in 2005.

While Advani has won the 'long format' for the ninth time, he triumphed in the 'point format' championship on eight occasions, besides winning the World Team Billiards Championship once. He has also won multiple world titles in snooker. 

In this tournament, Advani defeated fellow Indian cueist Rupesh Shah 900-273 in the semi-finals. It saw breaks of 259 and 176 from the defending champion, while Shah managed a 62 break only in the 900-up format. In the other half of the draw, Kothari pulled off a close win against Dhruv Sitwala, prevailing 900-756 in his semi-final match. Kothari had breaks of 223 and 82, while Sitwala scored 199 and 188. 

For his achievements, Advani has been bestowed with Arjuna Award in 2004, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2006, Padma Shri in 2009 and Padma Bhushan in 2018.

 

Congratulatons Pankaj Advani

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
21.11.2023