<p>Having decided to give the International Snooker Championship a miss, former winner Pankaj Advani will lead the Indian challenge in the World Billiards Championship that begins at Leeds on Thursday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Although his decision to withdraw from one of snooker’s marquee events after coming through a tough qualifying event has not gone down too well with the Chinese snooker authorities, Indian fans will be glad that the 27-year-old chose to travel to England to compete in an event that he relishes.<br /><br />The Bangalorean had a good build-up to the world bash, anchoring his team ONGC to victories in both the billiards and snooker team events in the inter-petroleum championships in Mizoram. The favourite for the title, however, is defending champion Mike Russell. Originally from England but now based in Qatar, the 16-time world champion will once again prove a hard nut to crack.<br /><br />Other contenders for the title include former champions Peter Gilchrist and Geet Sethi, who alongside Russell are the only players to have made a competitive 1,000-point break in the modern game. Also expected to mount a strong challenge this year is 10-time Australian champion Matthew Bolton who last year recorded a break of 831 on his way to the final of the time format.<br /><br />Apart from the competition, this is the first-ever unified World Billiards Championship, jointly organised by two world governing bodies. The newly formed World Billiards Limited has brought together the International Billiards & Snooker Federation and World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association events for the unified World Championship. <br /><br />This will also be the first time women and junior players will be competing alongside the men. R Umadevi and Arantxa Sanchis are the two women participants from India.</p>
<p>Having decided to give the International Snooker Championship a miss, former winner Pankaj Advani will lead the Indian challenge in the World Billiards Championship that begins at Leeds on Thursday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Although his decision to withdraw from one of snooker’s marquee events after coming through a tough qualifying event has not gone down too well with the Chinese snooker authorities, Indian fans will be glad that the 27-year-old chose to travel to England to compete in an event that he relishes.<br /><br />The Bangalorean had a good build-up to the world bash, anchoring his team ONGC to victories in both the billiards and snooker team events in the inter-petroleum championships in Mizoram. The favourite for the title, however, is defending champion Mike Russell. Originally from England but now based in Qatar, the 16-time world champion will once again prove a hard nut to crack.<br /><br />Other contenders for the title include former champions Peter Gilchrist and Geet Sethi, who alongside Russell are the only players to have made a competitive 1,000-point break in the modern game. Also expected to mount a strong challenge this year is 10-time Australian champion Matthew Bolton who last year recorded a break of 831 on his way to the final of the time format.<br /><br />Apart from the competition, this is the first-ever unified World Billiards Championship, jointly organised by two world governing bodies. The newly formed World Billiards Limited has brought together the International Billiards & Snooker Federation and World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association events for the unified World Championship. <br /><br />This will also be the first time women and junior players will be competing alongside the men. R Umadevi and Arantxa Sanchis are the two women participants from India.</p>