Ace cueist Pankaj Advani (ONGC) extended his dominance on the green baize as he completed a grand double by also winning the Senior snooker title. The calm and composed Advani, the proud owner of 27 World titles, showed a steely resolve to shrug off a strong challenge from Railway’s lanky bespectacled cueist Kamal Chawla 6-4 in a long drawn close to seven hours final of the Khar Gymkhana presents CR Realty-Western India Billiards and Snooker Championships 2024, played at the Khar Gymkhana billiards hall on Sunday night.
Champion Pankaj Advani and runner-up Kamal Chawla are flanked by Khar Gymkhana, President, Vivek Devnani (right) and Cherag Ramakrishnan, President, BSAM at the prize distribution function.
Advani sealed his win with the frame scores reading 11-72, 31-58, 95-40), 52-42, 69-43, 43-74, 22-59, 75-62, 84-58, and 58-10 in his favour.
The Bengaluru-based Advani who had earlier in the day defeated S. Shrikrishna in the three-hour session billiards final has now won seven consecutive titles (4 snooker & 3 billiards) in Mumbai over the past two years.
The fare dished out by both champions was lackluster and there was hardly much to cheer for the cue sports aficionados, who were present in expectation of watching top-quality snooker. Both players were over-cautious and adopted safety measures to try and outsmart each other. With both not showing the confidence to go for their shots there were not too many substantial breaks and the frames took time to finish which resulted in the match dragging on late into the evening.
Advani for all his good showing produced just two breaks of 69 (3rd frame) and 55 (8th frame). In contrast Chawla had breaks on 51 and 38 in the opening two frames followed by efforts of 61 (6th frame) and 40 (8th frame).
In the semi-finals, Chawla defeated Shrikrishna (BPCL) 5-2 (119-18, 41-46, 51-60, 82-39, 73-0, 86-20, and 62-40). In the second semi-finals, Advani eased past Faisal Khan (Rlys) 5-1 (131-0, 85-43, 82-53, 58-41, 59-83, 70-35).
Senior snooker – Final: Pankaj Advani (ONGC) bt Kamal Chawla (Rlys) 6-4 (11-72(51), 31-58(38), 95(69)-40), 52-42, 69-43, 43-74(61), 22-59, 75(55)-62(40), 84-58, 58-10).
Semi-finals: Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt S. Shrikrishna (BPCL) 5-2 (119(58)-18, 41-46, 51-60, 82-39, 73(54)-0, 86(86)-20, 62-40);
Pankaj Advani (ONGC) bt Faisal Khan (Rlys) 5-1 (131(115)-0, 85(53)-43, 82-53, 58-41, 59-83, 70-35).