ABU DHABI: Indian cueist Pankaj Advani survived a tough final test against Keen Hoo Moh of Malaysia to pot his first Asian 6-Red Snooker Championship at Novotel Al Bustan hotel here on Sunday night.
Securing his first title of the season with a 7-5 (39-4, 6-51, 40-14, 0-37, 41-7, 44-8, 21-38, 45-24, 1-35, 45-36, 15-38, 53-24)margin, Advani said that he was just happy to get through as Moh is a ‘very dangerous player’.
Advani said he was desperate to land this title, especially since he hasn’t won an Asian snooker title.
“It’s important to keep winning. You don’t want to go 8-10 months without a title. There are times when I should have won a match and was unable to go over the line. Today also I had a feeling if this went to decider, I was unsure if I could do it.”
In the semis, Advani had a comfortable 6-1 win over Aditya Mehta but in the final he was a bit scratchy.
While preparing for this tournament, he had asked the Karnataka State Billiards Association in Bengaluru to place a match cloth in his practice venue for him to get acclimatised to the conditions in Abu Dhabi. India’s first world champion in 6-Red snooker also talked about the expectations back home.
Next up, Advani will play in the team’s event. He is yet to decide his partner but said he would be playing.—Agencies
Our Sports Correspondent from Karachi adds: After making an unceremonious exit in the quarter-finals stage of the preceding 6-Reds competition, Pakistan’s two outfits – 1 and 2 – made brisk starts by winning two group matches apiece in the Asian snooker team event at Abu Dhabi on Monday.
According to results made available here, Pakistan 1, comprising Mohammad Asif and Asjad Iqbal, first accounted for Iraq 3-2 (16-59, 78-14, 83-14, 38-59, 61-23) and then got the better of hosts UAE 2 by 3-1 (79-38, 32-64, 107-54, 75-1) to dominate Group ‘D’.
Pakistan’s second outfit that includes Mohammad Bilal and Babar Masih outplayed Saudi Arabia straight (77-32, 78-44, 68-33) in their Group ‘C’ opener and then blanked Bahrain in similar fashion (61-59, 56-15, 56-34).
The group matches conclude on Tuesday. The top two teams of the four groups will qualify for the quarter-finals.
The quarters and semis will be played on Wednesday while the final is fixed for the following day.
Results: Pakistan 1 bt Iraq 3-2 (16-59, 78-14, 83-14, 38-59, 61-23); Pakistan 2 bt Saudi Arabia 3-0 (77-32, 78-44, 68-33); Pakistan 2 bt Bahrain 3-0 (61-59, 56-15, 56-34); Pakistan 1 bt UAE 2 3-1 (79-38, 32-64, 107-54, 75-1).
Tuesday’s fixtures: Pakistan 1 v Malaysia; Iran 1 v Pakistan 2.
Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2016
