King of the cue
The new World Professional Billiards champion, Pankaj Advani, is only the second Indian to win this title after Geet Sethi. M. S. Unnikrishnan profiles the career of the young cueist, who is also one of the two players ever to bag both the billiards and snooker world titles

Pankaj Advani holds the winner’s trophy of the World Professional billiards Championship-2009. He also holds the titles of the Asian champion, Asian Games champion and national billiards champion — all at the same time Photos: AFP

Pankaj Advani has scripted a new chapter to add that one title missing from his trophy rack and has also kept India’s glorious tradition in cue sports in the process. With this win, Indians have now got 40 titles in billiards and snooker in their kitty, since Wilson Jones won the IBSF World Billiards Championship crown in 1958.

Advani had been carrying that "incomplete" tag due to his exit at the quarterfinal stage in his two previous attempts at the World Professional Billiards Championship. But he proved third-time lucky, when he slayed the redoubtable English veteran Mike Russell 2030-1253, at the Northern Snooker Centre at Leeds in a battle that lasted five hours, to lift his first World Pro Billiards crown — the ultimate trophy in billiards. It was his seventh straight win in a world championship final.

Advani had seen it all and done it all at the amateur level, both in billiards and snooker. He was one of the two players ever to bag both the billiards and snooker world titles. Malta’s Paul Mifsud was the first. Advani was also the first to win the World Amateur Billiards titles in both time and point formats, twice.

In fact, three of Advani’s five IBSF World Billiards Championship titles have come in the time format.

Not Blowing his own trumpet:The young cueist has won the World Amateur Billiards titles in both time and point formats, twice

But for the cueist, "Records are meant to be broken, however, it is very special feeling when you think you are only the second Indian to achieve it."

Billiards is more about consistency than big breaks, though breaks of 500 and 600 plus have become commonplace. This time around, Advani passed the litmus test, hoisting a stiff standard, to stop defending champion Russell in his tracks, and come up trumps.

"I don’t need to prove anything to anyone in cue sports," Advani declared after the win. More than elation, relief is the dominant emotion as according to the world champion, " Nobody is going to point a finger at me now. I can now play in peace because nobody would now come and tell me that I have not won a professional billiards title."

Russell, who has been a finalist 17 times, was trying to pocket his 10th world title, but Advani turned out to be a dodge ball on the velvet table.

"Playing against a legend like Mike Russell was always a big challenge," he said. And Advani rose to this challenge when in the very first session, he took a huge lead of 1070-418.

Receiving Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award from President Pratibha Patil in April this year

The 24-year-old Indian was deservingly crowned the world champion, though his great cue sports odyssey will turn full circle, only if he takes home the World Snooker Championship crown as well. For the present, however, Advani is not prepared to spend nine months in England, chasing the professional snooker circuit.

"I am doing well in billiards, and do not want to give that up", he said, though he would be taking a shot at the Asian Snooker Championship title.

Advani had burst on the international stage by winning the 2003 IBSF World Amateur Snooker Championship, after beating Pakistan’s Saleh Mohammed in China.

And he proved to be a worthy successor to the greats of the cue game like Wilson Jones, Michael Ferreira, Geet Sethi, Ashok Shandliya, Arvind Savur, Yasin Merchant, Rupesh Shah, Manoj Kothari, Devendra Joshi etc.

Advani’s greatest attributes that have helped him to the summit are his resiliency, focus, consistency, skills and his nerves, which are made of steel, as well as his ability to fight back from the brink. He also keeps a proper stance at the table, despite his short stature. His coach Arvind Savur’s training has been the icing on the cake.

Although Advani has been crowned the unquestionable king of the cue but his critics still harp that Russell, who has now made Qatar his home, being the national coach of cue sports in the Arab country, was an ageing old warhorse. At 41 years, Russell had to fight an unequal battle against the sprightly 24-year-old Bangalorean, whose agility, consistency and craft made a mockery of the veteran’s immense experience.

But ageing or not, Russel is known for his overwhelming ability on the table. Michael Ferreira calls him the best player in the post-war era, while other big names of the game have dubbed him the greatest billiards player of the modern era. So to win against a competitor, known as "Robot" was no mean feat for Advani and nobody can take away this credit from the young pro.

"It is always tough winning any world title simply because you have to beat the best in the business," Advani had said before leaving for England.

And beat the best he did. Advani beat the top three players in the field — Geet Sethi, David Causier and Russell — on his way to the summit; proof enough to show that he was a class apart.

His hard work is paying him handsomely and getting him the fat pay cheques as well. He practises for two to three hours every day, as his credo is practice makes a player perfect. And at Leeds, he fully concentrated at the job on hand, leaving even his cell phone back in his Bangalore home.

"My deeds do the talking," he said after conquering Russell. His foray into the title round was fraught with danger. He overcame former champion Geet Sethi in the league round after a tight fight, and avenged his league defeat against Dhruv Sitwala in the semi-final, only after a nerve-wracking tussle.

But in the challenge round, Advani put Russell on the mat with a 600-plus break in the first hour, which kept him well ahead of the titleholder. The huge lead put him on a comfort zone, and from thereon, the cruise was easy, as Advani went for his shots, and potted good breaks.

"Pankaj is a great potter," conceded Russell. "He can recover from any situation".

The victory over Russell was also a sort of tit for tat for Advani, as the Englishman had beaten his "sparring partner" B. Bhaskar in the semi-final.

But the very fact that three Indians (Rupesh Shah was the third Indian player) made it into the last four of the championship speaks well about the standard and future of the cue sport in the country.

Only two Indian players had ever reached the finals before. Geet Sethi contested the challenge round seven times, and annexed the crown five times, while Devendra Joshi was a finalist in 1995.

Advani’s application and confidence helped him get past Sitwala in the tense semi-final, as the latter had not only beaten him in the league round, but had also got the better of Geet Sethi and the higher-ranked Peter Gilchrist of Singapore. Advani downed Sitwala 1037-972, with an unfinished match-winning break of 142, as he was trailing 802-945 with 16 minutes to go for the final bell. But Advani has now made it a habit to come cracking in the final minutes, as he has scored some of his memorable wins, roaring back from the edge.

World billiards champion, Asian champion, Asian Games champion, national billiards champion — all titles at the same time is a record feat no doubt and Advani is truly the king of the cue sport world now.

For a boy who won the Karnataka State ranking title at the age of 12, and his first world title at the age of 17, Pankaj Advani has come a long way, indeed. And with age on his side, the world is indeed a ball at the end of the cue of this young champ, for whom this Napoleonic journey has just begun.