Advani starts well in points format

Pankaj Advani, who lost in the quarterfinal of the long-up format earlier, came out all guns blazing here.

Pankaj Advani plays a shot during the IBSF World Billiards Championship (Points Format), at the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA), in Bengaluru.

Pankaj Advani posted two victories to get his IBSF World billiards (points format) championship campaign off to a strong start here on Friday. In the morning session, Advani reeled off three unfinished century breaks to defeat countryman Jaiveer Dhingra 152-12, 150-10, 70-151, 151-56.

Advani, who lost in the quarterfinal of the long-up format earlier, came out all guns blazing here. Dhingra stood no chance in the first two of the best-of-five frame encounter, but he did pull one back in the third. Advani wrapped things up in the next frame, helped by a fluke pot along the way.

In the afternoon session, up against Thailand’s Thawat Surajitthurakarn, Advani was not as fluent. The 31-year-old, however, had plenty in the tank and got past the finish line.

Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist, who captured the long-up title on Thursday, began brightly as well. He took out two-time world champion Rupesh Shah, before easing past Ajeya Prabhakar 150-12, 151-146, 150-124.

Sourav Kothari, runner-up to Gilchrist in the preceding event, fell to Englishman Robert Hall in a close encounter.

The results (Indians unless mentioned):

Group A: Pankaj Advani bt Jaiveer Dhingra 152-12, 150-10, 70-151, 151-56; Chit Ko Ko (Myn) bt Alok Kumar 69-151, 150-69, 123-152, 151-2, 151-72; Advani bt Thawat Surajitthurakarn (Thai) 152-81, 150-13, 85-150, 151-86; Ko Ko bt S. Lashkari (Irn) 152-67, 150-118, 150-45.

Group B: B. Bhaskar bt Mohamed Aslam (SL) 154-16, 150-33, 151-32; Dhruv Sitwala bt Brijesh Damani 151-2, 2-151, 152-32; Aung Htay (Myn) bt Sitwala 69-150, 150-135, 150-57, 58-150, 151-68; Bhaskar bt Damani 150-11, 107-150, 150-8, 150-94.

Group C: Peter Gilchrist (Sin) bt Rupesh Shah 150-38, 48-150, 152-95, 150-109; Dhvaj Haria bt Akhilesh Mohan (Fra) 153-49, 152-5, 152-54; Siddharth Parikh bt Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) 155-26, 56-150, 150-44, 150-49; Rupesh bt Haria 154-38, 150-92, 151-68; Gilchrist (Sing) bt Prabhakar (USA) 150-12, 151-146, 150-124; Parikh bt Mohan (Fra) 150-13, 152-22, 152-82; Gilchrist bt Haria 152-0, 150-122, 154-122.

Group D: Sourav Kothari bt Devendra Joshi 152-0, 151-38, 150-149; Robert Hall (Eng) bt Soheil Vahedi (Irn) 152-29, 150-108, 152-38. Hall bt Kothari 2-152, 151-128, 151-145, 51-150, 150-25.