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Billiards & Snooker
By Kirti Patil
Pankaj Advani, who won the senior National snooker title at Jammu on Wednesday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena
Matching Merchant with his delicate long pots, Pankaj made a history by becoming the youngest National snooker champion at a tender age of 17 years. Merchant, the three-time champion, gave enough glimpses of his exquisite ball selection, and nearly took the match into the final 13th frame. Merchant tried a difficult red with a half-snooked handball, but the ball wobbled on the top pocket and his dreams crashed. The Asian Games gold medallist left an open table for Pankaj to make a clearance. Authoring a 18-74, 67-46, 83-41, 56-47, 71-10, 74-60, 17-78, 62-9, 62-69, 0-97, 37-91, 74-20 win, Pankaj became the only second cueist after Geet Sethi to win three National titles in a season. At the 1981 Madras Nationals, Sethi had won both the Junior National titles, and had added senior billiards crown by beating the then World Champion Michael Ferreira. Pankaj is in line for an unprecedented fourth, should he continue with his table dominance over the next week. "A deserving player has won the title. Pankaj is the future of Indian cue sport," was a candid reaction by the former Asian champion Merchant. "I feel great to have equalled Geet Seth's record. I'll try my best to do well in the billiards championship too," said Pankaj Advani. "My coach Arvind Savur is my greatest inspiration," the champion said giving his due to the maestro coach. The Maharashtra cueist opened with a booming shot from the baulk line and the cue ball galloped over two colour balls before striking a red into the top pocket. On the next visit, with scores 26-18 in his favour, Merchant made a 48 with hues of brown, blue, pink and black. Advani shifted gears and played safety shots with more precision before he added small breaks of 26 and 13. Merchant continued in the same vein and after getting an opening compiled 46 to go ahead of Pankaj. With just one red on, Pankaj went for the kill. He potted the difficult red and followed it up with a brown. Then he went on to clear the colour balls. Merchant started with a pullback shot that earned him six points, but then soon created an opening from a near-hopeless situation and added 34. With seven reds on, Pankaj got a visit to the table. Combining five blacks, two pinks, a yellow and the table clearance, Pankaj made an unfinished break of 83 to just about unsettle Merchant. Pankaj was not to stop there. He won the next three frames making solid breaks of 67 and 44 to go 5-1 up. Merchant had his chances of winning the sixth frame. He was on a break of 38 when he missed the green and in-offed the handball. Then, Merchant started his recovery act. He made a 65 in the seventh frame and Pankaj decided not to bore with safety play on colour balls. Using blue to open up the red bunch, Pankaj made 37 and played excellent safety game as Merchant could take just nine points. Pankaj had a 6-2 lead and just one frame from the title. He made a break of 62 and had seemingly closed the chapter. With six reds on, Merchant polished a table-clearing break of 69 with four blacks, a pink and a yellow each. Despite playing under pressure, Merchant showed what it takes to be the champion. He won the next 97-0, with handy breaks of 34, 31, 27. Merchant seized the initiative in the 11th frame when he was down 0-37. Another table clearance came from his cue preceded by eight blacks. For a 17-year-old Pankaj, with his frame advantage narrowing fast, now at 6-5, it was a situation no one would have like to be in. But, with some luck as Merchant messed up when he was snooked. He made two foul shots while trying to strike an invisible red. The referee warned him as he was ignoring a partially visible red. A poor safety handed Pankaj the advantage and he held on nicely to become the champion. The results: final: Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Yasin Merchant (Mah) 7-5 (18-74, 67-46, 83-41, 56-47, 71-10, 74-60, 17-78, 62-9, 62-69, 0-97, 37-91, 74-20). Play-off for third place: Dharminder Lilly (Pun) bt Siddharth Parikh (Rly) 4-3 (61-34, 51-67, 81-8, 52-40, 32-62, 38-68, 72-63).
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