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Billiards & Snooker
BANGALORE, MARCH 23. It's Pankaj Advani vs Ashok Shandilya. David vs the Goliath. The 100 up format was expected to throw up a few surprises. And it happened at the semifinal stage where the big guns are expected to take stock and come through was belied as Panakj the teenage wonder from Bangalore made everyone stand up and look at the champion in the making. Pankaj Advani, the prodigy that every Indian billiards and snooker player looks forward to made light of Devendra Joshi's challenge for a 4-2 verdict and make the final of the Om Kotak Mahindra Asian billiards Championship at the KSBA hall here today. Joshi's run in this newly introduced format was unbelievable. But the clean slate that he enjoyed in the league stage and the thumping 4-0 margin in the quarters seemed only an abberration. But Pankaj proved it all otherwise. Pankaj, a 11th standard student of the Frank Anthony Public Schools (FAPS), had reasons to smile at the end. Given a wild card for his seventh place in the National billiards championship, Pankaj had more than a point to prove after his stupendous double in the junior nationals. Today the teenager proved his critics wrong with an exciting display that left the unbeaten Joshi gasping for breath. A 102 unfinished in the second visit was how Pankaj began his challenge and a 85 and a 82 that followed only gave the FAPS boy a 3-1 lead going into the final session. As is his wont and true to his style Devendra Joshi came into his own. But it proved a trifle too late in the match as Pankaj ran away with the game and match with an unfinished 85 that came about in the sixth visit of the decider. Ashok Shandilya on the other hand did get the jitters. Playing seven time world champion Geet Sethi, the burly Maharashtra cueist did entertain hopes of wrapping up the issue in straight game. But the Ahmedabad based champion would have nothing of the sort. Geet true to his style did pull back but that was just not enough as Ashok tightened his defence with a good measure of safety play to outmanoeuvre the world champion. In the quarterfinals, Sethi had to bring out his reserves to quell the challenge from Alok Kumar, India no. 2 after being 2-0 up. Sethi's costly miss at the top pocket with the `red' in the third frame almost cost the seven time world champion a spot in the semifinal, but the bleak run that Alok Kumar went through gave another opening. And Geet did not need a further invitation. Ashok Shandilya too was driven to the wall. But the veteran Sri Lankan Henry Boteju did not have it in him to pull off the upset. Ashok for all his sloppiness did pull off a 4-2 win with 81-100, 70-101, 100-15, 102-10, 101-43, 101-6 scoreline. Devendra Joshi ran through his quarters against U. Kyaw Oo without a blemish for a 4-1 verdict while Pankaj Advani oscillated from the brilliance to the medicore for a 4-1 verdict against Dhruv Sitwala. The results: Semifinals: Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Devendra Joshi (Ind) 4-2 ( 102-12, 9-101, 101-4, 84-100, 102-61, 102-74; Ashok Shandilya (Ind) bt Geet Sethi (Ind) 4-3 (102-49, 0- 102, 101-50, 100-35, 98-101, 11-101, 100-21. Quarterfinals: Devendra Joshi bt U Kyaw oo (Myan) 4-1 ( 6-101, 102-82, 100-76, 101-24, 103-0); Ashok Shandilya bt Henry Boteju (SL) 4-2 (81-100, 70-101, 100-15, 102- 10, 101-43, 101-0; Geet Sethi bt Alok Kumar 4-2 (101-31, 101-26, 91-101, 101-0, 5-100, 100-96); Pankaj Advani bt Dhruv Sitwala 4-1 (102-52, 102-99, 6-100, 100-34, 100-54).
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