The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Pankaj Advani defeats Sitwala, to take on Mike Russell in summit clash

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Pankaj Advani defeats Sitwala, to take on Mike Russell in summit clash

Geet Sethi

Rupesh fails to make the most of his early domination against the defending champion

LEEDS: Mike Russell, the 41-year-old reigning champion will meet Pankaj Advani, the current IBSF World billiards champion in the final of the 2009 World professional billiards championship.

Both cueists booked their berths with semifinal victories earned in almost similar fashion.

Mike Russell overcame a below-par first session against India’s Rupesh Shah to convert a 410-608 deficit into a 1366-880 victory at the end of four hours whilst Advani produced a match-winning effort of 142 unfinished to edge out Dhruv Sitwala 1037-972.

For Rupesh, the first two hours of his match provided some indication that there is nothing certain in sport.

Given his outstanding break-building in the tournament, which included two 500s two 400s and three 300s, few would have betted against Russell, winner of nine professional world titles.

Yet, Shah, 2007 IBSF World billiards champion (points format) found himself enjoying a constant 200-point lead in the opening two hours of the contest. A 96 in the fifth visit, a 184 in the thirteenth and a 102 in the eighteenth from Rupesh found no reply from the unusually subdued Englishman who now represents Qatar.

Russell’s lone contribution in the first session was a 189 in the thirteenth visit in response to his opponent’s 184.

Time and again, he would break down either by missing a red pot or would go out of position whilst attempting to gather the balls at the top.

For Rupesh, who was appearing in his maiden World professional championship semifinals, it was important to keep focus and just keep performing to the best of his ability and not get either overawed by the reputation of his opponent or get into a euphoric lethargy at having gained a session advantage.

Stretches advantage

When they resumed play for the second two-hour session, most assumed that Russell would immediately make amends and start his relentless scoring.

But it was Rupesh who fired in a 75 at the opening to stretch his advantage to 273 points. For six visits after that the nine-time World champion continued to struggle, unable to convert the openings into sizeable contributions.

His numerous fans began thinking of the possibility of a huge upset for the first time. And Rupesh’s Indian supporters gleefully rubbed their hands at his better than average chances of a possible victory against the best cueist in the world. Suddenly, Russell exploded in an orgy of break-building. A 166 in the seventh visit, 267 in the ninth and then 133, 79 and 66 in the 14th, 15th and 16th visits converted his disheartening deficit into a comforting 1366-880 victory.

Cliff-hanger

The encounter between Dhruv Sitwala and Pankaj Advani was a cliff-hanger. Both cueists were understandably tense, playing with some inhibitions and were tentative in their approach in the opening two-hour session. Sitwala exhibited consistency reflected in small breaks of 68, 81, 51, 77 and 84 whilst Advani displayed his intent with one break of 195 which aided him in establishing a 518-472 advantage at the end of the first two-hour session.

Three of Advani’s five IBSF World titles have come in the time format. He has provided substantial proof of his resilience in the past and even though Sitwala had defeated him in their league match, the fact that he had been there and done it before was working decisively in the 24-year-old’s favour.

With 16 minutes to go Advani found himself trailing 802-945, thanks to efforts of 77, 208 and 87 from Sitwala. And like he has done so many times in the recent past, Advani rose to the occasion and calmly compiled match-winning breaks of 85 and 142 unfinished to edge out Sitwala. The unfinished 142 was worth its weight in gold.

The young maverick from Bangalore has once again reinforced his reputation of being able to perform when it matters the most. He needs to replicate the same fighting instinct once more in the five-hour final.

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