Bangalore: Ace cueist Pankaj Advani said there's nothing bigger than the World Billiards Championship, which he won after defeating reigning champion and seasoned Englishman Mike Russell in the Time format final. "The world billiards is held once in a year and there is no bigger event than that. As I said in the beginning of the year, I wanted to play both billiards and snooker equally.
If I didn't play billiards, I would have been only concentrating on snooker this year and not given myself a chance to manage billiards as well," said Advani. The 27-year-old Bangalorean became the youngest Indian sportsperson to win eight world titles when he outclassed the local favourite Russell 1895-1216 in the final in Leeds, England. Advani and Rupesh Shah, who clinched the World Billiards title in Point Format after beating Australia's Matthew Bolton 6-2, were felicitated by Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) and Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA) here.
The only active player to compete at the highest level in both billiards and snooker, Advani had made a tough choice of picking the World Billiards over International Snooker Championships in China due to a clash in the dates of the two tournaments. And the celebrated cueist said the personal decisions of athletes should be respected just as nobody questions senior India batsman Sachin Tendulkar for not playing in the T20s.
"When Tendulkar doesn't play T20s for India, nobody questions him. It is his personal decision and we respect
06:06 PM, Nov 04, 2012
New Delhi: The youngest Indian sportsperson to win eight world titles, ace cueist Pankaj Advani says his recent World Billiards Championship triumph was a "special" one as he had to wait for three years to regain it. "It's a special win for me. It's been a long wait for me, I waited for three years. To be able to keep your motivation level high, to win against a great player...
06:02 PM, Nov 02, 2012
Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani notched up his seventh World Billiards Championship title after comprehensively beating defending champion and seasoned Englishman Mike Russell. ...
10:37 AM, Nov 02, 2012
New Delhi: Ace Indian cueist Pankal Advani is on a high after a thumping 1,895-1,216 victory over defending champion Mike Russell in the World Billiards Championship final (time format) in Leeds on Sunday for an eighth world title (seventh in billiards). The 27-year-old made his professional snooker debut in 2012 with wins over Steve Davis and former World No. 1 John Higgins, and having defeated compatriot Dhruv Sitwala in the...
08:23 AM, Oct 30, 2012
New Delhi: When ace cueist Pankaj Advani decided to take part in the World Billiards Championship, he had quietly made a promise to himself that nothing short of silverware would satisfy him and he kept his date with destiny. The only active player to compete at the highest level in both Billiards and Snooker, Advani had made a tough choice of picking the World Billiards in Leeds over International Snooker...
08:25 PM, Oct 29, 2012
Pankaj Advani said that he took a tough decision earlier this year to play both Billiards and Snooker at the highest level, and is glad to maintain his top form. ...
09:08 AM, Oct 29, 2012
Leeds: India's Pankaj Advani won his seventh World billiards title when he outclassed defending champion Mike Russell 1,895-1,216 in the final on Sunday. Leading 872-614 at the half-way mark in the five-hour match, the 27-year old Advani displayed greater consistency than Russell to repeat his 2009 victory against the 43-year-old Qatar-based Englishman, winner of 10 titles himself. Advani's triumph completed a fine outing for the Indians as on Saturday, Rupesh...
11:43 PM, Oct 28, 2012
Leeds: Rupesh Shah became only the fifth Indian cueist to lift the world title twice after he beat Australia's Matthew Bolton 6-2 in the final of the World Billiards (point frame) here. Starting by winning the lag, he won the first game comfortably but in the next game, Bolton levelled the match 1-1 at the Northern Snooker Centre here. Fifth game was the turning point in this match where Bolton...
09:29 AM, Oct 28, 2012
Leeds: India's Rupesh Shah prevailed over Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 5-2 to advance to the final of the 150-up format World Billiards Championship, here on Saturday. The 39-year old from Ahmedabad will now meet Mathew Bolton of Australia in the summit clash. Mathew defeated David Causier 5-3 in another match. Shah started off well as he registered breaks of 133 and 148 for a 2-0 lead but Gilchrist came back,...
11:33 PM, Oct 27, 2012
Leeds: Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani on Friday advanced to the semifinals of the World Billiards Championship in the time format though he crashed out of the tournament in the point format here. Advani beat fellow Indian Rupesh Shah 1647-705 in the time format quarterfinals to make it to the last four stage. He, however, lost to Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 1-4 in a quarterfinal match in points format. Against...
09:20 PM, Oct 26, 2012
Leeds: Seven-time world champion Pankaj Advani, veteran Geet Sethi and Dhruv Sitwala continued their unbeaten run in the Time Format after outplaying their rivals in the World Billiards Championships here Sunday. Advani whipped John Hartley of England 630-294, Sethi routed another Englishman Nalin Patel 522-268 and Sitwala virtually toyed with Australia's Neil Bolton in a 572-156 win. Another star Indian cueist in the fray, Sourav Kothari from Kolkata also began...
07:43 PM, Oct 21, 2012
Leeds: World billiards finalist Dhruv Sitwala and former champion Geet Sethi alongwith Pankaj Advani were off to roaring starts as the trio outplayed their respective rivals by huge margins on the opening day of the World Billiards Championships here. Sitwala thrashed Ryan Mears 702-134, Advani routed Martin Schmdt 874-147 while Geet Sethi virtually toyed with Jonathan Evans 687-168 Friday. However, another India stalwart Devendra Joshi lost the opening tie narrowly...
08:17 PM, Oct 20, 2012
Leeds: Pankaj Advani spearheads a strong Indian challenge in the first ever unified World Billiards Championship, commencing here on Saturday with as many as 65 players, including defending champions Mike Russell and Bangalorean Revanna Umadevi in the fray. The tournament is being jointly organised by two world governing bodies. The newly-formed World Billiards Ltd has brought together the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) and World Professional Billiards and Snooker...
11:43 AM, Oct 19, 2012
Bangalore: Pankaj Advani opted out of the International Snooker Championship in China for which he had qualified and has decided to participate in the World Billiards Championship due to overlap of the dates. The 27-year-old from Bangalore, who has won seven world titles, had made no secret of his bias for billiards. Thus, it came as no surprise that he decided to skip the China event and participate in the...
06:37 PM, Oct 11, 2012
Seasoned campaigner Alok Kumar was the cynosure of all eyes with his Asian Billiards title, but overall it was an average year for Indian cue sports as success eluded the country at the major international events. Alok blanked Praput Chaithanasukan of Thailand 6-0 to win the coveted Asian Billiards title in April at the Olympic Stadium of Kish Island in Iran. He thus became the first player to achieve the...
08:39 PM, Dec 30, 2011
Leeds: Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani advanced to the semifinals of the World Billiards Championship after defeating compatriot Devendra Joshi by 279 points here. Advani had an average of 31.25 in 32 visits while Joshi managed to score 721 points with an average of 22.53 in 1000 Up match in the quarterfinal tie. During the match, Advani smashed four century breaks of 147, 135, 133 and 120 whereas Joshi managed...
01:05 PM, Oct 29, 2011
New Delhi: Indian cueist Pankaj Advani faltered in the finals once again as England's Mike Russell successfully defended his Point format title in the IBSF World Billiards Championship being played in Carlow, Ireland. In a repeat of last year's final in the Point format, former champion Advani went down 3-6 to ten-time World champion Russell in the summit clash on Saturday night at The Ivy Rooms. In the last edition...
03:42 PM, Aug 28, 2011
New Delhi: Former champion Pankaj Advani and young cuiest Sourav Kothari registered hard fought victories to enter the semifinals in the Point Format of IBSF World Billiards Championship being played in Carlow, Ireland. While Advani had to bring in all his experience to the table to overcome Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 4-3, Kothari prevailed over teammate Dhruv Sitwla 4-2 in the quarterfinals played last night at The Ivory Rooms. However,...
01:41 PM, Aug 27, 2011
New Delhi: Former champion Pankaj Advani and veteran Alok Kumar led the charge as nine Indian cueists reached the pre-quarterfinals of the Point-format in the IBSF World Billiards Championship being held at Carlow, Ireland on Friday. Indian cueists reigned supreme at the green baize as Advani, Alok and Rupesh Shah streamrolled the opponents to top their respective groups in the tournament, which started on August 24 and will continue till...
07:39 PM, Aug 26, 2011
Pune: Pankaj Advani fired an unfinished break of 709 while Geet Sethi produced six century breaks to enter the semifinals of the World Billiards Championship (time format) here on Thursday. Defending champion Advani defeated Rupesh Shah 1279-684 in the quarterfinal to set up a clash with modern legend Mike Russell of England. "The break has come at the right time and I hope it will help me in the next...
10:24 AM, Aug 27, 2010
