Press Trust of India
Adelaide, Sept 27: India’s most successful cueist Pankaj Advani added another feather to his cap Sunday by winning the IBSF World Billiards Championships after outplaying his opponent in the final to take his world title count to 14 here.
Advani, 30, left the spectators spellbound with his prolific play and indisputable mastery over the 3-ball game, demolishing Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist by 1168 (2408-1240) points.
After lifting his 14th world crown in style, the Indian king on the green baize said, “I was determined to get even with Peter (Gilchrist) after losing the point- format final to him. A productive chat with my sports psychologist brother Shree and a good night’s sleep did the trick. We discussed my strategies and mental approach the night before the big final and it all panned out perfectly.”
Bangalore’s ‘Golden Boy’ was in roaring form and appeared keen to not only defend his Time format world title but also avenge his loss to Gilchrist, which happened a week ago.
In the opening visit, Advani fired in a quick century (127) to take the initial lead. He then followed it up with two triple century breaks (360 and 301) to establish his complete mastery on the match.
With a comfortable 700-point lead, India’s posterboy of cuesport continued to add insult to injury with breaks of 284, 119, 101 and 106 in quick succession to extend his lead to 1,100 points at the half-way mark in the five-hour final.
On resumption, Advani continued to punish his opponent with two more century breaks, but Gilchrist suddenly found form to hit a break of 284. Two more 100-plus breaks followed and he had reduced Advani’s lead to around 400 points.
But Advani was not quite done yet. He hit a devastating and unfinished break of 430 (the highest in the match) to drive the nail into Gilchrist’s coffin.
The champion further added, “I’ve been on the move last couple of months competing in many tournaments in both snooker and billiards. The stint started with winning the World 6-red Snooker Championship and ended with this world title in billiards making it a very satisfying phase of the year for me.”
Result: Pankaj Advani defeated Peter Gilchrist 2408 (127, 360, 301, 284, 124, 101, 106, 171, 114, 430*) – 1240 (102, 156, 249, 107, 198).