Pankaj Advani wins 26th World Billiards Championship title

Indian cueist Pankaj Advani rallied to win the IBSF World Billiards Championship title here on Tuesday for a staggering 26th time, beating compatriot Sourav Kothari in the final. Trailing 26-180 in the first hour, Advani rallied to defeat the 2018 world champion Kothari 1000–416 in a rematch of last year's title clash in Kuala Lumpur.

Pankaj Advani (right) and runner-up Sourav Kothari (left) pose with their respective trophies(PTI)

Playing back-to-back matches, Kothari took the initial lead and was going strong but faltered on a couple of easy chances to allow Advani recover from the deficit. From there, it got a little scrappy with both players exchanging visits between them and a couple of 150-plus breaks by Advani helped him stretch the lead while Kothari could not fully capitalise on the chances he got.

Advani fired in a break of 214, the highest of the match, and looked unstoppable after that. He maintained a healthy 250-point lead for a better part of the match. A 99 from Kothari brought the difference down to 150. The ace from Bengaluru then switched gears to extend the lead and reach the 1000-mark with an unfinished break of 199 to end the proceedings.