Billiards Nationals: Dhruv Sitwala wins maiden title, stunned Pankaj Advani

51-year-old Dhruv Sitwala claimed his maiden senior National billiards title on Friday with a brilliant 5-3 win over his Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) colleague Sourav Kothari in the final/

Earlier in the day, Sitwala entered the final after shocking world champion Pankaj Advani by an identical margin in the last-four stage earlier in the day.

Sitwala, runner-up last year, rallied to beat the experienced Kothari 37-150, 152-25, 23-152, 151-5, 65-150, 151-135, 150-132 and 151-66 to cap off a memorable run that also saw him put it past defending champion Brijesh Damani in the pre-quarterfinals.

"This is actually my sixth final appearance in the Nationals, and this time I was a bit more composed and managed to win my first title," Sitwala said.

In the semifinals, Sitwala won the final two frames in style 150-38 and 150-0 to seal the contest against Advani, who had leveled at 3-all.

Kothari had finished runner-up to Advani in the World Billiards final in Doha last month and won his maiden senior National Snooker crown in the ongoing 90th National Billiards and Snooker Championships.

"It would have been great to bag a double, but it didn't turn out that way. I'm glad for Dhruv," Kothari said.

After runner-up finishes in the Sub-junior girls' billiards and snooker and junior girls' billiards, Gujarat's Aanya Patel won the junior girls' snooker crown, beating Karnataka's Natasha Chetan 3-0 in the final.