The Hindu : Advani gets warm welcome

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Advani gets warm welcome

By Our Special Correspondent

World snooker champion Pankaj Advani poses with the Cup he won in Jiangmen, China, on his arrival in Mumbai. — PTI

Mumbai Oct. 27. An Indian world champion returned home in the wee hours on Monday at the Sahar International Airport. Men and women stealing a catnap at the arrival lounge did not mind being woken up by the sudden commotion and watching the excitement all around with green baize buffs, officials and a posse of television crew and mediamen jostling for positions.

Fay Ferreira, wife of Michael Ferreira, coach of the Indian snooker team at Jiangmen (China) looked quite impatient and keen to welcome India's latest world champion with a garland of lilies.

On Sunday Pankaj Advani had beaten Pakistan's Mohammaed Saleh 11-6 to win the prestigious title for amateurs.

He left for China with a good chance of making the knockout and surprised everyone by winning the title. The teenaged marvel from Bangalore appeared behind Michael Ferreira and Yasin Merchant. Pushing the trolley, he broke into a smile and was soon mobbed by men with movie and still cameras. Things went out of control for the khaki-clad.

Nineteen years ago, Om Agrawal, returning from Dublin with a replica of the M.M. Baig Memorial Trophy, the symbol of supremacy in World amateur snooker championship, was accorded a motorcade welcome by his friends and admirers. On Monday morning, the second youngest World champion after Jimmy White, was received by passionate fans and officials and his aunt before Devendra Joshi and Ajay Rastogi presented Advani for a Q & A with the print media and one-to-one with cable television channels.

Evidently Advani was swept away by the warm welcome. Urged to display the silver cup by the media, he took it out of the cardboard box and posed for pictures. He had poleaxed 13 opponents out of 15 in a fortnight's time in Jiangmen to lay his hands on it. Advani had a lot to say after his win. The first question was, what's next ?

"I am giving myself two years to turn a professional. Obviously this (World title) is a big step towards turning professional. It's a tough circuit, but I am going to give my best shot. The professional circuit brings in a totally different dimension. Maybe in two years time, if I play more international tournaments and mature, it should help me,'' he said.

Standing beside him, Michael Ferreira lavished praise and predicted a bright future. "The competition was tough. His win was, quite simply, phenomenal. Apart from the fact that this was his first world championship final, there was the India- Pakistan angle to it. The first session was a bit of a ding-dong battle, which he finished at 5-5. He lifted his game exponentially in the second session. He was leading 7-5, when Saleh won another frame to make it 6-7. It was now that Pankaj made a clearance of 135. Saleh broke off and that's the last shot he got. Thereafter he won a tough frame after which Saleh was leading 67-0 in frame 16 and then Pankaj made a 70 clearance and that was the real killer. Thereafter 11-6 was a formality,'' said Ferreira.

Ferreira described Om Agrawal as a `man of tremendous natural talent.' "I think the maturity and the solidity Pankaj showed in this tournament was perhaps better than OB's. OB was a fabulous talent. It's a great pity that he passed away at a young age. Pankaj's safety play is very good, pinpoint accuracy and back on the bottom cushion. In fact Saleh said that Pankaj's safety killed him.''

The champion said `training and playing in England had paid rich dividends.

"I just went at the right time I guess. I practise for five hours now. I have to probably increase it to seven and a half hours a day and play for most part of the year in England. That's going to be pretty hectic, but that's also going to be total concentration in the game.''

Advani said he owed his achievements to many people and organisations like the Karnataka State Billiards and Snooker Association, his personal coach Arvind Savur, Ferreira, fellow players and his family members. When asked if his win would provide the impetus to the sport, he replied: "

The coach (Ferreira) and myself were discussing about this. We came to a conclusion that this is really going to boost green baize sport in India. People (Corporates) are going to look at a few other sports, apart from cricket.''

Our Sports Reporter from Bangalore adds:

The Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA) left no stone unturned in giving the hero a befitting welcome as hundreds of well wishers and fellow players thronged the airport lounge on his return home.

A good number of students from Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College, where Pankaj is doing his First B.Com, ushered in the new World champion with chants of "three cheers'' and banners proclaiming "Boy Wonder — awesome Advani'' and "Teen sensation repeats history''.

Emotions were not concealed by the Savur family, wherein Pankaj cut his teeth in the sport as Arvind Savur, Pankaj's coach and his family members shed tears of joy unashamedly.

The Minister for Small Scale Industries and Haj, Roshan Baig, was there as well as the Director of the Department of Youth Services and Sports, Kishore Chandra.

Pankaj was then taken in a motorcade, the fourth such instance for a sportsperson in Bangalore. The previous motorcades were for B.S. Chandrashekar, Prakash Padukone and Anil Kumble.

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