Cueist Pankaj Advani wins World Billiards Championship for 26th time

Indian cueist Pankaj Advani rallied to win the IBSF World Billiards Championship title here on Tuesday for a staggering 26th time beating compatriot Sourav Kothari in the finalTrailing 26180 in the first hour Advani rallied to defeat the 2018 world champion Kothari 1000 416 in a rematch of last years title clash in Kuala LumpurPlaying backtoback matches Kothari took the initial lead and was going strong but faltered on a couple of easy chances to allow Advani recover from the deficitFrom there it got a little scrappy with both players exchanging visits between them and a couple of 150plus breaks by Advani helped him stretch the lead while Kothari could not fully capitalise on the chances he gotAdvani fired in a break of 214 the highest of the match and looked unstoppable after that He maintained a healthy 250point lead for a better part of the match A 99 from Kothari brought the difference down to 150The ace from Bengaluru then switched gears to extend the lead and reach the 1000mark with an unfinished break of 199 to end the proceedingsDescribing the feeling as unreal Advani said I have won before so I know how it feels but to repeat it year on year is what makes all those hours of work on skill body and mind totally worth itTo me consistency is the hallmark of success and continuing to bring home world titles for the country is what drives me the mostAlso Read Pankaj Advani wins his 24th World title in DohaAdvani will get no rest as he participates the next edition of the World Billiards Championship which is the short format 150up Kothari blamed fatigue for squandering his early leadMy semifinals stretched on for almost five hours and I had to play the final with just a little more than an hours break So I guess I was fatigued Kothari saidI hope to make amends in the pointformat now which begins later in the day he addedKothari pulled off a close win against Dhruv Sitwala prevailing 900756 in a gruelling semifinal that stretched for about five hours He had breaks of 223 and 82 while Sitwala scored 199 and 188Advani on the other hand defeated fellow Indian Rupesh Shah 900273 in the other semifinals It saw breaks of 259 and 176 from the defending champion while Shah managed a 62 break only in the 900up format Advani won his first world title in 2003The only player globally to win world titles in all formats of both billiards and snooker has maintained his superlative level of performance to keep India on top of the world in the 3ball gameWhile Advani has won the long format for the ninth time he triumphed in the point format championship on eight occasions besides winning the World Team Billiards Championship once