Despite being far from his best, Pankaj Advani held his nerve and played the big points well to scale another peak at the Karnataka State Billiards Association on Monday. In the IBSF World Billiards Championship points format final Advani outplayed an off-colour Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 6-3, who had beaten Gujarat's Dhvaj Haria 5-1 in the semi-finals, to annex a mind-boggling 11th World billiards crown and 16th overall.
“This is a title that I needed badly,” said Advani, who denied the Singaporean a rare double. However, for the better part, the crowd looked on in total disbelief when both Advani and Gilchrist played and missed shots they would have played with their eyes closed on any other day. Maybe it was the pressure of the final that got to them. Both were never on top of their games and often succumbed to the baulkline rule (having to cross between 80 and 100 points). “The tables behaved a trifle differently today, I was not getting the splits and cushions didn't have the desired throw for Gilchrist. That made it a little difficult,” admitted Advani.
The much-anticipated final sputtered to life, but very briefly, only in the second session with Advani holding a slender 4-2 lead. That there were just two century breaks in the entire match, one from each player, was a poor advertisement for the sport that thrives on big breaks. Both had come into the final on the back of amazing runs through the league stages and the knockouts. The fluency was missing in the title clash. However, Advani's consistency proved the deciding factor.
