CHENNAI: India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani won his eighth Asian billiards title beating compatriot Dhruv Sitwala in the final of the 19th Asian 100 UP Billiards Championship 2022 in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday.
In a repeat of the 2021 national billiards final, Advani won the first three frames to dominate the proceedings. Even though he lost the fourth frame, he pocketed the next two to make it 5-1. Sitwala won the seventh frame but Advani won the eighth to win the 11-frame final.
In the nationals also, Advani defeated Sitwala to win the title. Advani last won the Asian billiards title in 2018.
“This title means so much to me. We haven’t played competitive billiards in almost three years. It was a bittersweet feeling to lift the trophy as I had to defeat my close friend Dhruv. I am very happy for him and would like to congratulate him on his excellent performance. The Asian Billiards is a tough event to win as it is played over the point (short format) and you never know who will come out on top. I can’t believe I have won eight billiards titles taking the total tally of Asian titles to 12," Advani was quoted as saying by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports.
Earlier, Advani won all his group stage matches losing only one frame to secure the top-seed spot for the knockout rounds. He defeated Jang Hosoon of South Korea and Yuttapop Pakpoj of Thailand 4-0 respectively in the first two matches. In his last group stage match against Sri Lanka's Mohamed Rimzan, he won 4-1.
The cueist then went on to win a close semifinal 5-4 against Pauk Sa of Myanmar. He was leading 4-2 at one stage but Pauk Sa made decent breaks of 61 and 67 to level the scores and take the game into the decider. Pauk Sa looked in control but missed after 48 points to allow Advani to get back into the contest. The Indian cueist secured a break of 100 points to win the contest and enter the final.
In the other semifinal, two-time Asian champion Sitwala edged past former world champion Praput Chaithanasukan from Thailand to win 5-4.