Cueist-extraordinaire completes a career ‘grand slam’

India’s ace cueist Pankaj Advani on Friday clinched the 35th men’s Asian snooker championship to complete a career grand slam in cue sports.

Advani has now claimed the ACBS Asian snooker events — 6-red (short format) and 15-red (long format) — along with the IBSF World Championships in both formats.

Having already accomplished it in billiards, Advani was missing the 15-red Asian snooker trophy in his bulging trophy cabinet.

Advani defeated Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 6-3 in the final to become the only one to win the Asian and World championships in all formats.

Sleep well now!

“With this title, I’ve done everything I could when representing my country in both the sports.

“This win completes my trophy cabinet so I now know I will be sleeping well for a very long time.” Advani said.

“Having won all that there is, I’d like to continue competing with the objective of deriving personal growth through the medium of sport and to also share my knowledge with budding cueists.

Enjoy the game

“I’m now going to enter every championship to enjoy my game while at the same time focus on other areas of my life too.”

After a shaky start against Thanawat, Advani found himself with yet another deficit.

At 3-1 down, the Indian went into overdrive and won five frames on the trot to capture the crown.

Thanawat started with a bang by winning the opening two frames 52-10, 97-1 in no time. Advani responded with a 54 break to make it 1-2 but the Thai was in no mood to concede another frame and continued his brilliant potting display.

He came up with a 75 break and reached the halfway mark with three frames in his pocket. Advani, who was running a fever, then started taking it one frame at a time.

After levelling 3-3, he won the next three frames to seal the deal.

Pankaj will now take part in IBSF World Cup next week in Doha.

The result:

Pankaj Advani bt Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (Tha) 6-3 [10-52, 1-97(97), 95(59)-1, 1-110(75), 60-43, 71-44, 80-49, 72-42, 67-1].