How Pankaj Advani ousted Peter Gilchrist to win his career's 16th world title

Indian ace cueist Pankaj Advani beat Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist in the grand finale of the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (ISBF) World Billiards Championship in Bengaluru yesterday. The 31-year-old Indian cue sports legend managed to claim his 11th World Billiards (150-Up format) Championship title and his 16th overall world title. Advani beat Gilchrist by six games to three, ousting his rival with the score of 151-33, 150-95, 124-150, 101-150, 150-50, 152-37, 86-150, 151-104, 150-15.

The Prince of India sported a calm demeanour against his Singaporean based British opponent. He had the right attitude and the state of mind to script a dominating and convincing victory in a match which took nine games to decide the winner. The Golden Boy chose to play century break points in his quarter-final and semi-final fixtures, but opted to go for short break points in the final and put inevitable pressure on his counterpart in all the games except one.

Pankaj Advani vs. Peter Gilchrist

Advani took an early lead by winning the first two games by 150 points against 33 and 150 against 95. But Gilchrist didn’t give up that easily, he bounched back immediately by winning the next two games by 150 points against 124 and 150 against 101. Pankaj again managed to regain his composure and edged his rival in the next two games, winning by 150 points against 50 and then 152 against 37. Peter was also very stubborn and claimed the next game winning by 150 points against 86. The match had intensified at 4-3, but the Indian maestro ended up ousting his competition by winning the next two games by 151 points against 104 and finally 150 against just 15. Advani was simply at his best on a day worth proving his credentials to the cue sports fraternity.