Chennai, Nov 22: India’s most successful cueist Pankaj Advani added another feather in his cap by annexing the 2015 IBSF World Snooker Championship held at Hurghada in Egypt.
The packed house joined the Indian team led by BSFI and IBSF president Captain Mohan to give Advani a tumultuous ovation for his 15th world cuesports title.
This is Advani’s second IBSF World Snooker title. The first he won in 2003 in China.
Manoj Kothari, accompanying coach said today that an electrifying final saw both the players–Pankaj and Xintong exhibiting highest quality of Snooker.
Pankaj who had the advantage of a 5-2 lead at the end of the first session, maintained his tempo from the start of the second session to go ahead 6-2 by claiming the eighth frame, with a scintillating break of 93 points.
When it seems all set for Pankaj to annex the crown without much difficulty, the situation changed, as Xintong suddenly woke from his slumber and won the next two frames to make it 6-4, with a break of 84 in the tenth.
A missed pot at the corner pocket when Xintong was all set to win the eleventh saw Pankaj once again rising to the occasion to again go ahead 7-4 with a brilliant break of 77. The crowd got excited when Xintong in the next two frames brought out two successive masterpieces of 126 and 82 and charged up the atmosphere.
At 7-6, once again Xintong had the initial opening and started building up breaks at the top end but lost position for the red. A desperate attempt to stay on in the break saw him selling the red to Pankaj. In a now or never situation, Advani showed great calmness under the most trying circumstances, and kept on potting with clinical precision and precise positioning to compile a total clearance break of 109 to win the frame and the match 8-6, Manoj added. (UNI)
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