Cueist Pankaj Advani: There is still scope for improvement

Pankaj Advani at a city hotel yesterday. Pic/ Sayyed Sameer Abedi

India's 21-time world champion cueist Pankaj Advani is gearing up to defend his IBSF World Billiards title next month and is keen to do it in style.

Advani, 34, will be in action in the 150-up IBSF World Billiards Championships and World 6-Red & Team Snooker Championships in Mandalay, Myanmar next month. He will then leave for Melbourne to participate in the longer version of the World Billiards Championship (October 6 to 12).

The Padma and Arjuna awardee said he has plans set for the big events. "The next three months are very important. I have been working on scoring more and trying to play a more attacking and aggressive game. Like every sportsperson, I too want to win playing a beautiful game," Advani told mid-day yesterday.

The eight-time Asian Billiards champion said he is not focussing on the competition, but rather on his own game. "This is a game where you are in complete control of the situation when you are playing. So nobody can put pressure on you. But people use tactics like playing slow or changing the rhythm of the game. In this sport there is not much strategy involved like in chess where every move is calculated and people read what you are doing," explained the two-time Asian Games gold medallist (2006, 2010).

"At the end of the day, whatever your opponent does, you as a player are on your own when you are on the table. When you are performing, there is not much the opponent can do to you to change the way you play," he added.

Despite having won everything in the sport, Advani said he wants to improve further. "Just because I've won so much, it doesn't mean I can't improve. I feel there is a lot of scope for improvement. I want to explore and add new dimensions to my game," Advani remarked.

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