India’s most successful cueist Pankaj Advani on Sunday added another feather to his cap by winning the IBSF World Billiards Championship after outplaying his opponent in the final to take his world title count to 14.
Advani, 30, left the spectators spellbound with his prolific play and indisputable mastery over the 3-ball game, demolishing Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist by 1168 points.
On lifting his 14th world crown in style, the Indian ace said, “I was determined to get even with Peter (Gilchrist) after losing the point format final to him. A productive chat with my sports psychologist brother Shree and a good night’s sleep did the trick. We discussed my strategies and mental approach the night before the big final and it all panned out perfectly.”
World Billiards trophy in my hands:) Absolutely thrilled to win the Arthur Walker trophy! pic.twitter.com/75nLEJ8LNr
— Pankaj Advani (@PankajAdvani247) September 27, 2015
Bengaluru’s ‘Golden Boy’ was in roaring form and appeared keen to not only defend his Time format world title but also avenge his loss of the Point format championship to Gilchrist, which happened under a week ago.
In the opening visit, Advani fired in a quick century (127) to take the initial lead. Failing to capitalise, Gilchrist handed over an opportunity to the Indian star and it was taken full advantage of.
The 2015 6-red snooker world champion showed his fine prowess in billiards by smashing in two back-to-back triple centuries (360 and 301), making the match a foregone conclusion in the first hour itself.
With a comfortable 700-point lead, India’s poster boy of cue sport continued to add insult to injury with breaks of 284, 119, 101 and 106 in quick succession to extend his lead to 1100 points at the halfway mark of the 5-hour final.
On resumption in the second half, Advani continued to punish his opponent with two more centuries but a spirited fight back by the Singaporean in the form of a big double century (284) along with a couple more centuries reduced his deficit.
This is the 14th World Championship title for the golden boy of Indian cue sports, and Advani would surely be looking to build on that, to get more silverware.
(With inputs from PTI)