The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : ‘I decided to enjoy every moment’

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Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008
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Sport - Billiards & Snooker

‘I decided to enjoy every moment’

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

ONE MORE TO THE KITTY: Pankaj Advani with the Asian billiards trophy he won at Myanmar.

BANGALORE: World, Asian and National billiards champion Pankaj Advani was presented a purse of Rs. 50,000 by M.C. Uthappa, vice-president of the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA), at a well-attended function to felicitate him.

Pankaj, 22, has been adding national and international titles to his kitty by the dozen. Having annexed his third World billiards crown in September to the World IBSF snooker title he won in 2003, Pankaj regained the Asian billiards crown at Myanmar with a 5-4 win over Rupesh Shah.

Second Asian crown

Pankaj, apologetic about the inability to communicate due to the military regime prevailing in Myanmar, spoke to the media at length about his second Asian title, having won his first at Pune in 2005.

“It was the closest final I have played in at the international level. Leading 4-2 it looked pretty good until Rupesh came up with consecutive century breaks (in the 100-up format) and it was even-stevens at 4-4. In the decider, both of us missed badly and there were too many errors before I held my nerve and won 100-88,” said the humble Pankaj.

Asked about his preparations for the Asian event, Pankaj said: “Yes, I played too many invitation snooker tournaments prior to the Asian event and it was probably not the ideal preparation. However, it helped me remain in match-mode, especially since there were not many international tournaments in the last six months.

“The loss to eventual champion Peter Gilchrist of Singapore in the last edition in Doha was heart-breaking. But, I was out to enjoy every moment of my stay at the table and this mindset helped me immensely. Probably, that was the reason for my title triumph too.”

While comparing the two Asian titles, Pankaj said: “I cherish the first win at Pune but value this one more. To win it for the second time needs much more focus due to expectations and other factors.”

Next goal

About his next few assignments, Pankaj said: “The Asian snooker meet in Dubai from May 3 to 10 is the immediate goal and then the World billiards event here later this year. But first, a few days break...”

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