Date:16/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/16/stories/2004081614491600.htm

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Advani is champion

KOLKATA, AUG. 15. The sixth seed Pankaj Advani of Karnataka won the billiards selection tournament humbling Ashok Shandilya of Railways by five frames to two in the best of nine frames final at the SAI (Eastern Centre) here on Sunday.

Advani won 4-101, 48-101, 102-24, 100-2, 101-5, 100-16, 101-0. Advani hit back strongly to win five frames in a row with ease after losing the first two.

The results:

Final: Pankaj Advani (Kar) bt Ashok Shandilya (Rly) 5-2 (4-101, 48-101, 102-24, 100-2, 101-5, 100-16, 101-0). Third place: Devendra Joshi (Mah) bt Md. Asim (Rly) 3-0 (100-40, 100-64, 102-75). For 5 to 8 places: Alok Kumar (Pun) bt B. Bhaskar (Kar) 2-1 (100-45, 62-100, 101-72); Dhruv Sitwala (Rly) bt Sourav Kothari (Ben) 2-0 (101-10, 102-60); Bhaskar bt Sitwala (Rly) 2-1 (53-101, 100-3, 100-2); Kumar bt Kothari 2-0 (100-75, 104-12).

Current ranking: 1. Pankaj Advani, 2. Ashok Shandilya, 3. Devendra Joshi, 4. Md. Asim, 5. Alok Kumar, 6. B. Bhaskar, 7. Dhruv Sitwala, 8. Sourav Kothari. — Our Special Correspondent