MUMBAI:The Indian Open snooker tournament lost its sheen on Tuesday as Pankaj Advani went down fighting. But the man himself had no qualms in admitting that he was outwitted and outperformed by his 20-year-old rival Rhys Clark.
“Whenever I tried to come back, and change things up, he always had an answer to it,” said the ace Indian cueist after his narrow 3-4 (8-72, 73-29, 83(83)-0, 54-55, 75(75)-0, 8-72, 65-58) defeat to the young Scot on Tuesday evening.
Even as the Indian Open has been struggling to attract a sizeable crowd and create a buzz, losing their biggest draw card, was, according to Advani “unfortunate.”
“I am obviously disappointed to lose in the first round. If I had lost 4-0 or 4-1, I would not have been as disappointed, but I came close to winning. My opponent showed lot of composure and matched me in technical play (safety play),” he added.
“He is very talented and will be a good player on the pro snooker tour when he joins it). He will beat some top players. I had to use all my experience to contain him. He was the better player,” he said.
“I found it a bit difficult to control the white ball. Not playing in England for more than one year made the difference,” said Advani about switching to the faster Star tables, which are being used for the ranking tournament.
The 29-year-old had played on the pro circuit in England from 2012 to 2014, before giving it up in September to concentrate on his billiards career.
It was a move he doesn’t regret, but the rustiness of not competing with the best, using the best facilities he believes is showing.
“I wasn”t really happy in England,” Advani said of his venture. “I did get into the top-64 in the rankings, which is good, but the results were not as good as I was expecting.”
Though he failed to make a mark at the second edition of the biggest snooker event in the country, Advani is now training his guns at the twin Asian championships. He will next play at the Asian Billiards championships, from April 7-13, and the Asian Snooker championships, from April 23 to 30.