BANGALORE: Pankaj Advani has announced his entry into the world of professional snooker. With India being offered one wild card for the World Pro-Ranking Tour and the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India’s (BSFI) original nominee Aditya Mehta eligible to play on the tour directly as Asian champion, India No 2, Pankaj has now been nominated for the wild card.
Pankaj had earlier rejected the BSFI offer, seeking to concentrate only on billiards, but he has changed his stance now. “This is the right time to give it a shot. At the age of 18, when I was really keen to go and play in the pro league, I didn’t get an entry, and after 8 years, the desire has been rekindled. It will be exciting to see what follows next,” he said. “My focus is to become a better player by participating in the pro tour, while continuing to actively participate in international billiards events.” Pankaj will be off the amateur snooker circuit for the next two years. He will begin his campaign this season with the Wuxi classic qualifiers from June 5 to 8.
As a debutant on the tour, Advani starts the season ranked in the bottom half of the list, meaning the 26 year-old will have to play four rounds of qualifiers in the knockout format to enter the main draw of tournaments.