Advani reigns supreme in billiards

NT NETWORK
Posted on 2009-02-12
PANAJI- Six times world champion Pankaj Advani lifted the individual billiards title, beating fellow ONGC teammate Alok Kumar in straight games in the 5th inter-unit billiards and snooker tournament, here, at the plush billiards hall of the Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias, Miramar, Panaji on Wednesday.
Playing under 150 points in the best of 5 games format, Advani started the proceedings with a well complied break of 70 when he suddenly missed a regulation top pocket in-off in the top corner pocket and offered Kumar with a nice opening.
The lacklustre Kumar, however, could not grab the opportunity as he struggled to find his rhythm and allowed Advani to come back to the table, who, with his characteristic top-of-the table play scored a fluent break of 81 and went ahead by one game to nil.
The second game saw both the players struggling to control the three balls, but it was Advani again who managed to raise his game to the optimum and with the help of a well-constructed break of 84 snatched the game from Kumar and established his stranglehold for
the title.
In spite of getting a couple of unexpected openings in the third game, Kumar failed to capitalise on Advani’s mistakes who won the game and match comfortably with the break of 74.
With this, Advani lifted the individual inter-unit PSPB billiards title for the fourth time in succession.
Earlier in the semi-finals, Alok Kumar showed a commendable performance by beating former World No 2 and fellow ONGC pro Dhruv Sitwala by 3-1.
The other semi-final was a real treat for the billiards buff that witnessed a high scoring match between the two maestros of the game - Pankaj Advani (ONGC) and Devendra Joshi (BPCL). In a battle of attrition between the two, centuries were replied with centuries. However, at the end of this electrifying drama Advani prevailed over Joshi by 3-1 yet, the score line could not suggest the quality of the game that Joshi displayed.