CLASS ACT: Geet Sethi got the better of Pankaj Advani in the final. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: Gujarat's Geet Sethi regained the senior National billiards title after an eight-year wait. Sethi quelled a late revival from Petroleum Sports Promotion Board's Pankaj Advani and claimed his eighth senior billiards title in the 73rd edition, sponsored by Jain Heights, with a 1087-923 victory. Sethi had last won the title in Kolkata in 1998.

The four-hour final, witnessed by a good turnout, especially in the afternoon session, was scrappy with neither player coming out firing. "We are professionals, but we are human too. And the pressure of the occasion did affect," admitted Sethi after the final.

The final between Sethi (45), the current professional World champion, and Advani (21), the reigning IBSF amateur World champion, was billed as a cracker of a final. "It either turns out to be a runaway win for one or the tension plays on both and the match fizzles out as a contest," agreed Sethi, who began with a 198 in his eighth visit and thereafter held the upperhand.

With Advani unable to produce anything significant till his 13th visit — a 148 — Sethi managed a 200-plus lead till the end of the first session (624-354). Change of shirt for the afternoon session did seem to inject some urgency in Advani, but sadly for the Doha Asian Games Gold medallist, the top table game was just not materialising. "I guess that's where I lost out," Advani said.

In the second, with both playing tentatively, the openings were plenty for either to capitalise. Advani did string breaks of 97 and 103, but never really threatened to catch up with Sethi as the first session leeway worked in favour of the eventual champion. For Advani, this was the second senior billiards final after having won it in Mumbai two years ago.

Double for Shahbaaz

Kolkata's 17-year old Shahbaaz Khan bagged his second billiards title of the championship. He downed Kunal Agarwal of Orissa 449-353 in the sub-junior final.

Earlier this week, Shahbaaz had won the junior billiards title. But he lost in the semifinal of sub-junior snooker.

"It was difficult switching from billiards to snooker," said the teenager on his loss in the last four. "But there is still chance to make it three as the junior snooker is still open," said Shahbaaz. "But I am very happy with my billiards result. More so since I began playing billiards only a year-and-a-half ago," he said.

The results:

Seniors: Billiards: Final: Geet Sethi (Guj) bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 1087- 923; Breaks: Sethi: 198, 113, 72, 96, 92; Advani: 148, 103, 97, 78, 97.

Third place: Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB) 650-208.

Sub-juniors: Billiards: Final: Shahbaaz Adil Khan (WB) bt Kunal Agarwal (Ori) 449-353.

Snooker: Final: Shravan Mohta (Mah) bt Rovin D'Souza (Mah) 43-13, 63-01, 49-32. Semifinals: Shravan Mohta (Mah) bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan (WB) 70-43, 58-20, 75-32; Rovin D'Souza (Mah) bt Manish Jain (WB) 55-56, 79-15, 55-43, 47-74, 63-19.

Juniors: Snooker: Qualifying knock-out: Kunal Raj (Kar) bt Hitesh Soni (Pun) 54-53, 50-3, 49-36; Sidarth Patni (MP) bt Ishan Bhale (Mah) 70-42, 68-23, 58-28; Irfan Habib (TN) w/o Ankit Kariwal (WB); Ishuk Choudhry (JK) w/o Pratap (Kar); S. Vikram (TN) w/o Chintan Sampat (Mah); M. Jaya Krishna (AP) bt Kunal Agarwal (Ori) 52-48, 60-29, 41-32; S. Vinoth Kumar (TN) w/o Kabir Paruthi (UP); Arjun Kumar (AP) w/o Harsh Jalan (Kar); Rishab Pandya (Mah) bt Ashish Dudani (AP) 84-08, 64-19, 68-01; Vinay Kothari (TN) bt Rahul Bajaj (Kar) 61-39, 87-10, 56-19.

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