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Advani favourite: Sethi

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Pankaj Advani is ranked as favourite by none other than Geet Sethi, who says ‘the golden boy’ of Indian cue sports should lift the title in the World snooker championship which will be held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre from November 14 to 25.

“He has won almost every title at stake in billiards and I am sure he is the best bet from India to win this championship,” Geet Sethi, himself an eight-time World champion, said at a media briefing to formally launch the event.

“Aditya Mehta and Sourav Kothari are also strong contenders for the title from India’s point of view,” he said.

“I will be competing in the Masters category (above 40 years) and hope to win a title this time around having finished as finalist in the last edition.

Training hard

“I am really training hard. Pankaj and I will be taking part in the Asian indoor games in Vietnam this month-end and we will treat that as a run-up to the World championship,” Sethi said.

Capt. P.V.K. Mohan, President of the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India, said the event had attracted a record number of 250 entries from 60 countries.

“India will be fielding eight entries in men’s league and we are hoping to have some more by virtue of being hosts and if we do that, Lucky Vatnani of Hyderabad should figure in the final list which should be announced within a couple of days,” Capt. Mohan said.

“The event which carries a prize money of £15,000, will be organised on 10 match-tables and six practice tables,” the BSFI chief said.

Indian team:

Men: Pankaj Advani, Mannan Chandra, Aditya Mehta, Brijesh Damani, Kamal Chawla, Alok Kumar, Shahbaaz Adil Khan and Sourav Kothari.

Masters: Geet Sethi, Devendra Joshi, Yasin Merchant, B.V. Srinivasa Murthy.

Ladies: Vidya Pillai, Chitra, Anuja Chandra and Neena Praveen.

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