Advani off to roaring start; Gilchrist wins

Pankaj Advani came out firing in the points format of the IBSF World Billiards Championship here on Friday, making his intentions clear after having suffered a shocking loss in the long-up version a couple of days ago.

Seemingly upset after enduring probably one of his earliest losses — quarterfinals — at a World Championship in a discipline of cue sports that's so dear to him, Advani first battered compatriot Jaiveer Dhingra 3-1 before easing past Thai veteran Thawat Sujaritthurakarn by the same margin in Group A at the KSBA hall.

The 31-year-old Advani, whose bid for an unprecedented fourth double came to an end following his defeat to Sourav Kothari on Wednesday, looked like a man in a hurry in his noon-time contest against the 23-year-old Dhingra. Determined to prove that the last-8 defeat was just an aberration, the 15-time world champion blasted breaks of 109 and 146 points to seal the opening two frames in quick time.

Focused and looking at his best, Advani just kept picking up points with relative ease. Headed for an early lunch, Advani though suffered a dip in concentration in the third frame and Dhingra, being forced to occupy his chair mostly until then, made the most of the chance he got. He posted a break of 64 to lead 102-46 and then, after a few misses, wrapped it up to reduce the margin to 1-2.

Dhingra then cracked a break of 56 in the fourth frame to take early control and inject some excitement into the contest. However when he missed a regulation red pot to the top right pocket and allowed Advani back to the table, it was all over for him. Deciding enough was enough, Advani hit a break of 98 to put the contest beyond Dhingra’s reach before completing the formalities thereafter.

Advani’s second game — versus Thawat — was a near mirror image of his opener. He hammered a break of 133 points in the first frame and 69 and 81 in the second to take a comfortable 2-0 lead. He then missed a simple red pot in the third frame and Thawat capitalised on the opportunity to make it 1-2. Advani, during that brief phase, looked like he had relaxed his foot on the accelerator, missing some shots that he would connect otherwise with his eyes closed. But he soon hit the pedal, posting a break of 99 in the fourth to cap a fruitful day.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s 50-year-old Aung Htay issued a major warning as he registered three wins from as many games in Group B, including a lightning quick dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Mohamed Aslam. 

Peter Gilchrist, who regained his long-up world title on Thursday, was in top form too, scoring three victories in Group C with the loss of just one frame.

Results

Results: Group A: Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Jaiveer Dhingra (Ind) 3-1 (152 (109 unf) -12, 150 (146 unf) -10, 70-151; 151 (151 unf) -56); Chit Ko Ko (Mmr) bt Alok Kumar (Ind) 3-2 (69-151, 150-69, 123-152, 151 (106) -2, 151-72); Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Tha) bt Sasan Lashkari (Irn) 3-0 (150-46, 151-87, 150-0); P Advani bt Thawat S 3-1 (152 (117) -81, 150-13, 85-150 (102), 151-86); C Ko Ko bt S Lashkari 3-0 (152-67, 150-118, 150-45); A Kumar bt J Dhingra 3-1 (126 (103) -151, 151-106, 153-111, 150-70).

Group B: Aung Htay (Mmr) bt Nalin Patel (Eng) 3-1 (150-89, 152-28, 94-150, 151-28); B Bhaskar (Ind) bt Mohamed Aslam (SL) 3-0 (154 (140)-16, 150 (101) -33, 151 (144) -32); Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) bt Brijesh Damani (Ind) 3-1 (151-2, 2-151, 152-32, 150 (106) -67); N Patel bt M Aslam (SL) 3-0 (151-87, 150-89, 150-106); A Htay bt D Sitwala 3-2 (69-150, 150-135, 150-57, 58-150, 151-68); B Bhaskar bt B Damani 3-1 (150-11, 107-150 (134), 150 (127) -8, 150-94); A Htay bt M Aslam (SL) 3-0 (153-13, 151 (115) -28, 150-3); B Damani bt N Patel 3-0 (150-88, 153-100, 152-66); B Bhaskar bt D Sitwala 3-2 (112 (112)-151 (101), 150-20, 69-150, 152-91, 150-15).

Group C: Peter Gilchrist (Sin) bt Rupesh Shah (Ind) 3-1 (150-38, 48-150, 152-95, 150 (126) -109); Dhvaj Haria (Ind) bt Akhilesh Mohan (Fra) 3-0 (153 (125) -49, 152 (131) -5, 152-54); Siddharth Parikh (Ind) bt Ajeya Prabhakar (US) 3-1 (155-26, 56-150, 150-44, 150 (108) -49); R Shah (Ind) bt D Haria 3-0 (154-38, 150-92, 151-68), P Gilchrist bt A Prabhakar 3-0 (150 (103) -12, 151-146, 150-124), S Parikh (Ind) bt A Mohan 3-0 (150 (122 unf) -13, 152 (146 unf) -22, 152-82); P Gilchrist bt D Haria (152 (152 unf) -0, 150-122, 154 (129)-122 (120)); S Parikh bt R Shah 3-2 (109-151 (93), 6-150, 151-31, 150 (145)-2, 151-62); A Prabhakar bt A Mohan 3-0 (150-95, 151-126, 151-84).

Group D: Praput Chaithanasukan (Tha) bt Shankar Rao 3-0 (151-37, 150-99, 150-59); Sourav Kothari (Ind) bt Devendra Joshi (Ind) 3-0 (152 (152) -0, 151-38, 150-149); Robert Hall (Eng) bt Soheil Vahedi (Irn) 3-0 (152 (79) -29, 150-108, 152 (93) -38); Praput C bt S Vahedi 3-0 (151-44, 153-36, 151-127); D Joshi bt S Rao 3-0 (151-90, 153-125, 151-36); R Hall bt S Kothari bt 3-2 (2-152 (109), 151 (122)-128, 151-145, 51-150 (128 unf), 150-25).