All-India final for second straight year in World Billiards

India is assured of the World Billiards Championship title as Pankaj Advani and Sourav Kothari reached the final in Carlow. Advani dominated his semifinal, while Kothari staged a comeback win to set up a repeat of last year’s final

Hyderabad: For the second straight year, the final of the IBSF World Billiards Championship in Carlow (Ireland) will be an all-Indian affair.

In a repeat of last year’s title clash, champion Sourav Kothari will take on Pankaj Advani.

---

In the semifinals on Tuesday morning, Advani outclassed England’s Robert Hall 1184-420 to make his ninth straight final. At the adjacent table, Kothari rallied to register a come-from-behind 633-443 victory over Dhvaj Haria.

For a brief period early in the encounter, both Advani and Hall were a trifle tentative, perhaps the pressure of a big match played a role. Advani then fired the first salvo with a gritty 129, but Hall, a runner-up two years ago, made runs of 54, 73 and 104 to go up 279-255 in the 150-minute contest.

When the Englishman missed a red in-off to the centre pocket, Advani got off his chair in a jiffy and made the most of the easy chance. He gathered the balls at the top of the table in quick time and showcased his repertoire. The break moved smoothly until he lost position following a red in-off to the top right-hand pocket when on a break of 299.

He double-baulked Hall and was back at the table soon to put the match beyond Hall’s reach with another smooth break of 217, which ended when he missed a simple drop cannon. Twice during that crucial break, he seemed to go out of position but recovered with a screw in-off to the bottom left-hand pocket when on 99, and made a cannon off the top cushion when on 150.

Having taken a 784-314 lead, the writing was clearly on the wall. He compiled further breaks of 153 and 68 for a runaway victory.

Kothari may have eventually run away with the match, but it was Dhvaj who did the front-running. The southpaw made his intentions clear with a brilliant 268 early in the match. Unfortunately, he failed to maintain the tempo and crumbled under the champion’s fightback.

Kothari, who scored a gritty win over the dangerous David Causier in the quarterfinals last night, got down to business with runs of 94, 165, 85, 68 and 125 to secure a comfortable victory.

Results (Indians unless mentioned):

Semifinals: Pankaj Advani 1184 (129, 299, 217, 153, 68) bt Robert Hall (Eng) 420 (54, 73, 104); Sourav Kothari 633 (94, 165, 85, 68, 125) bt Dhvaj Haria 443 (268, 75, 53).

Quarterfinals: Advani 755 (141, 113, 111, 51, 85, 99) bt Martin Goodwill (Eng) 356 (77, 50); Robert Hall 425 (87, 53, 80) bt Siddharth Parikh 408 (125, 82); Dhvaj Haria 459 (76, 94, 95, 52) bt Shrikrishna S 376 (171, 148); Kothari 757 (105, 96, 242, 199, 102) bt David Causier (Eng) 498 (84, 113, 50, 186).