Pankaj Advani Defeats Brijesh Damani 5-1 to Win Gold in Asian Billiards

After losing to Damani in the group stages, Pankaj Advani regained his form and, in the finale, held on Sunday, managed to retain the Asian Billiards title.

Written by: Arjita Gupta

Edited by: Krutarth Ghosalkar

Last Updated: 2023-03-20 07:48:57

At the QBSF Academy, Damani received silver after some fight, but losing to 1-5, while Advani a 25-time International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) world champion, and then the series of wins followed against Damani with 100(51)-18, 100(88)-9, 86(54)-101(75), 100-26, 100(66)-2, 101(64)-59 in the final. Bai Yulu of China won the title in the finale for the women’s section after beating Thailand’s Panchaya Channoi 3-0.

In 2004, the Indian cue sports ace, Pankaj Advani bagged the 8^th Asian Billiards title. And therefore, he was honored with Arjuna Award. Similarly, in 2009, he was honored with Padma Shri, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2006, and in 2008 – Padma Bhushan. In Doha, last year Advani won the same title again. On Sunday, Advani was in great form in the championship.

But he had earlier lost to Damani in the group stage. In the competition, he won the first two games however and beat Pauk Sa of Myanmar to reach the final. He thus won by 5-1 in the semifinals. To boast his laurels, Advani scored a century break in the fourth, and half-century breaks otherwise in each of the six frames. Damani also scored in the third frame a break of 75 in the last-four stage 5-4 against Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan.

However, he lost 1-5 and settled for silver instead. Pankaj Advani is from Bengaluru and is a 37-year-old person, who gained popularity because of winning 17 times billiards world titles, 16 times IBSF World Billiards Championship, and 1 time at the World Team Billiards Championship. Along with these feats, Advani also won the gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games and 2006 in English Billiards singles.