The Hindu : Sport : Advani falters in crucial tie

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 10, 2005

Sport

Sport - Sports : General

Advani falters in crucial tie

Karachi: Pankaj Advani faltered thrice on coloured balls to allow Imran Shahzad win the crucial Lucky Seven single match that allowed Pakistan to trim India's lead to 12-11 on the first day of the Lawrencepur snooker challenge at the Karachi Club here on Thursday.

India had entered the last singles match leading the host nation 12-8. But Advani, the former world snooker champion and reigning world billiards champion, failed to sink the green in the centre pocket, blue in the bottom left pocket and pink in the bottom right pocket that would have won him the frame.

Instead, Imran potted the green, brown and blue and then sunk the decisive pink in the top left to win the nerve-wracking frame 54-43.

"It was a heart-stopper but I am glad to bring Pakistan back on even terms," Imran said after the game. "He (Pankaj) would have missed those colours (green, blue and pink) once in 100 tries. I think his loss was my gain."

Advani complimented Imran saying he was a better player but added with a one-frame match it can be anybody's game. "I think I shouldn't have tried the green but it didn't cost me the match because I knew the match would be decided either on pink or blue. Missing the pink was heart-breaking but I think I played good snooker overall," Advani said.

"I don't want to take anything away from Imran because he really played well but one-frame match can go any way. In one-frame matches, there is really not much difference between the players," Advani added.

The results: Match 1 (doubles): Pankaj Advani/Devendra Joshi bt Mohammad Yousuf/Imran Shahzad 74-46. Match 2 (doubles): Alok Kumar/Manan Chandra bt Naveen Perwani/Saleh Mohammad 91(70)-48. Match 3 (singles): Saleh Mohammad bt Manan Chandra 70-38, 70(59)-27, 13-76(62). Match 4 (singles): Pankaj Advani bt Naveen Perwani 94-5, 83(54)-38, 74(53)-30. Match 5 (singles): Alok Kumar bt Imran Shahzad 18-78(57), 66-23, 74-51. Match 6 (singles): Mohammad Yousuf bt Devendra Joshi 58-50, 68-61, 57-33. Match 7 (Lucky Seven singles): Imran Shahzad bt Pankaj Advani 54-43. Total (after 15 frames): India 12 Pakistan 11. — PTI