Billiards World Championship: Pankaj Advani wins world title number 25

Pankaj Advani, the best cueist in India, defeated fellow countryman Sourav Kothari 4-0 in the final of the IBSF World Championship on Saturday to win his 25th world championship.

Advani amused the vast crowd of onlookers by manipulating his cue like a magician's wand. Advani made it plain from the first frame that the championship belonged to him. While his opponent, who is still vying for his first IBSF World Championship, had yet to score a point in the 150-up format, he quickly started the match to secure the first frame with a 149 break.

Advani battled valiantly in the best-of-seven summit match to achieve the billiards National-Asian-World golden trifecta in the same calendar year for a record fifth time.

After Kothari failed to take advantage of the few opportunities that his deserving opponent gave him, Advani won the second frame. Advani had a 2-0 lead and was halfway home after to a 77 break. Advani then cranked up the heat while playing some superb pool to wow the Malaysian fans.

Advani strung up magnificent breaks of 86 and 60 unfinished in the fourth set to put the icing on the cake and secure the win, demonstrating once more why he is the man to beat in the 3-ball game.

In the final, Kothari earned a total of 72 points, while Advani accumulated almost 600 points to successfully defend his championship for the sixth consecutive year. The event was last held in 2019 and was resurrected in 2019 due to the epidemic.

( With inputs from ANI )