Bengaluru
Prabhakar Singh Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani won the Asian Billiards Championship 2022 on Saturday taking his Asian Billiards titles tally to eight. What makes the victory all the more special for the 24-time World Champion is the fact that he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in January but managed recover and went on to win the title.
“This win is very special because after being diagnosed with COVID your health deteriorates. It is not just during COVID times you are having a weakness. Cold and cough you also go through its effects for the next few weeks and months and because of that your preparation remains incomplete. After all these things you have to perform as well. The international schedule got changed to this time. We are not given three back-to-back tournaments which I had to play and because of that my Snooker performance was not that great. But last time I had won both Asian Snooker and World Snooker in Doha. You win some and lose some, ” said Pankaj Advani in an exclusive interview to ANI. The 36-year-old cueist has achieved almost everything a cueist can dream of and yet the hunger to play and perform persists. He went to Doha with the same attitude and won the Asian Billiards title.
“I am very happy because this is my eighth Asian Billiards title and 12th overall Asian title. I have won my 41st international gold medal. This tournament is never easy because the 100 points format in Billiards is very unpredictable and it is very fast-paced. So, you can’t predict who is going to win. My semi-final match was against Myanmar’s player Pauk Sa was very tough and I managed to do well under pressure. So, I am very happy as when you win such matches under pressure then the win becomes very special. Yes I am a little sad that I beat my best friend Dhruv Sitawala in the final but I am really happy that India won both gold and silver medals, ” said Pankaj Advani. Pankaj Advani started out in the early 2000s and now after almost two decades, he is now one of the top cueists in the world.
