Advani ‘on top of the world’

Yangon, November 18 

Pankaj Advani extended his world title count to 21 by winning the long and short formats of the IBSF World Billiards Championship for a record fourth time. 

Bengaluru’s B Bhaskar settled for the silver. A weak break by the tall Bhaskar allowed Advani to start off with a bang as he delivered a massive blow through a 190 break. An additional 173 and 198 widened the gap beyond reach for Bhaskar as he struggled to score a single century. When Advani crossed the 1000 mark in the first-to-1500 final, Bhaskar was languishing at 206. The 800-point deficit eventually proved to much for Bhaskar.

 Last year, Advani did the unthinkable by winning the billiards’ short format title (he had to settle for bronze in the long format last year) and then went on to annex the snooker title too. He is the only player in the world to play both billiards and snooker at the world level and win in both with great consistency. Advani is the winner of three world titles this year.

“I’m on top of the world to win my fourth grand double in billiards,” Advani said. “I’m really thrilled to win my 21st World Championship gold. I am looking forward to defending my snooker title over the next 10 days.” — PTI