Pankaj Advani retains Asian snooker title

Bengaluru/Doha, September 16: India's Pankaj Advani defended his Asian snooker title after defeating Iran's Amir Sarkhosh 6-3 in the best-of-11-frames final at Doha on Thursday (September 16).

At the 36th edition of the event being held at Al Messila Luxury resort in the outskirts of Qatari capital, the Indian ace was in a class of his own as he tamed his Iranian opponent 72 (50) -42 , 72 (50) -0, 70-49 41-66, 70-17, 30-68, 74-34, 12-50, 64 (63) -44 in the final in which he had three breaks of fifty-plus.

Pankaj took the first three frames in a jiffy before taking his foot off the pedal in the fourth. He came back strongly in the fifth, but again conceded ground to Sarkhosh in the sixth.

The 36-year old won the seventh frame 74-34 to take a 5-2 lead to move within striking distance of retaining his crown, only to see the Iranian pulling back in the next.

However, he did not leave it too late and finished the proceedings in the ninth frame which he won 64-44 (that included a break of 63) to seal the contest in his favour.

With this Pankaj's tally of Asian titles across both snooker and billiards now stands at 13, including two Asian Games gold medals in 2006 (Doha) and 2010 (Guangzhou).

For the records, Pankaj has 23 world titles in his kitty.

Doha has always been a happy hunting ground for Pankaj ever since he won the billiards gold at the 2006 Asiad which was held at Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation's main facility at Mumtazah area.

Since then its has been trophies after trophies for the ace Indian cueist at the Qatari capital city.

The Asian snooker crown was one silverware which was missing from an otherwise illustrious trophy cabinet and it was at Doha in 2019 that he ended that jinx before going on to retain it two years down the line. Way to go champion!

Six-Reds next

Earlier in the semifinal, the Bengaluru boy defeated Hong Kong's Cheung Ka Wai 5-3 (117(53)-9, 65-17, 0-136(136), 42-88, 79-1, 0-113(113), 64(61)-37, 68-14) in the best-of-nine frames tie.

Pankaj will now turn his attention to the Six-Reds World Cup which begins at the same venue from Friday (September 17).

National champion

The ace Indian cueist is the current national champion in the Six-Reds format and will be eyeing a good show along with the other Indian -- Ishpreet Singh -- in the competition which runs till Tuesday (September 21).

This is the first major international event in which Indian cueists are taking part following a 19-month enforced break due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Career Grand Slam

Both the tournaments are sanctioned by the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports (ACBS).

It may be recalled that Pankaj had completed a career Grand Slam in cue sports in 2019 when he clinched the ACBS Asian snooker title which had proved to be elusive for him for a long time.

Records galore

In the 2019 final (also held in Doha), Pankaj had defeated Thailand's Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon 6-3. As a matter of fact, Pankaj is the only cueist to win the Asian and World Championships in all formats and also the only one to do so in two disciplines -- snooker and billiards.

""I'm glad to defend this title and pick up from where I left off before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The gap only increased the drive and hunger to compete and do well on return," said Pankaj.