Ace Pankaj Advani extended his world titles count to 21 by winning the long and short formats of the IBSF World Billiards Championship for a record fourth time here on Sunday.
Advani's city-mate from Bengaluru, B Bhaskar, a two-time Asian silver medalist and a bronze medal winner at the world level, had to settle for silver. Advani, showing no mercy to his training partner, hammered him 1500 (190, 171, 86, 92, 66, 134, 62, 198, 165, 66, 89) - 299 (64, 58).
A weak break by the tall and lanky Bhaskar allowed Advani to start off with a bang as he delivered a massive first blow through a 190-point break.
An additional 173 and 198 widened the gap beyond reach for Bhaskar as he struggled to score a single century. He sat in his chair, probably realising that there was no stopping his colleague on Sunday.
When Advani crossed the thousand mark in the first-to-1500 final, Bhaskar was languishing at 206. The 800-point deficit eventually proved to be a tall order for Bhaskar to bridge.
Last year Advani won the billiards short format title -- he had to settle for bronze in the long format -- and then went on to annex the snooker.
"I’m on top of the world after winning my fourth grand double in billiards," a delighted Advani said. "It was the toughest field with the likes of Bhaskar, (David) Causier and (Mike) Russell in it and to come out on top is simply unreal. I’m really thrilled to win my 21st world championship gold and am now looking forward to defending my snooker title over the next 10 days.”
Deccan Herald is on WhatsApp Channels| Join now for Breaking News & Editor's Picks