Advani in 7th heaven

Pankaj Advani with his billiards and snooker trophies in Mumbai

Ace cueist Pankaj Advani of ONGC extended his dominance on the green baize as he completed a grand double by winning the senior snooker title at the Western India Billiards and Snooker Championships 2024 in Mumbai. Advani, the proud owner of 27 world titles, showed steely resolve to shrug off a strong challenge from Railways's bespectacled cueist Kamal Chawla 6-4 in a long-drawn final that lasted close to seven hours at the Khar Gymkhana billiards hall on Sunday night.

Advani sealed his win with the frame scores reading 11-72, 31-58, 95-40, 52-42, 69-43, 43-74, 22-59, 75-62, 84-58, and 58-10. The Bangalore-based Advani, who had earlier in the day defeated S Shrikrishna in the three-hour session billiards final, has now won seven consecutive titles (four snooker and three billiards) in Mumbai over the past two years. The fare dished out by both champions was lacklustre, and there was hardly much to cheer for the cue sports aficionados, who had made it to the venue with the hope of watching top-quality snooker.

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Both finalists over-cautious

Both players were over-cautious in their endeavour to outsmart each other. With both not showing the confidence to go for their shots, there were not too many substantial breaks, and the frames took time to finish, which resulted in the match dragging on late into the evening. Advani, for all his good showing, produced just two breaks of 69 (3rd frame) and 55 (8th frame). In contrast, Chawla had breaks on 51 and 38 in the opening two frames, followed by efforts of 61 (6th frame) and 40 (8th frame).

Chawla defeats Shrikrishna

In the semi-final, Chawla defeated Shrikrishna (BPCL) 5-2 (119-18, 41-46, 51-60, 82-39, 73-0, 86-20, and 62-40). In the second semi-final, Advani eased past Faisal Khan (Railways) 5-1 (131-0, 85-43, 82-53, 58-41, 59-83, 70-35).

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