Pankaj Advani wins 27th World title at World Billiards Championships

Veteran Indian cueist Pankaj Advani continued his scintillating form and completed his fifth grand double with a dominating 5-0 win over compatriot Sourav Kothari in the final of the IBSF World Billiards Championship (point format) on Friday.

The victory extended Advani's world title tally to a staggering 27. In a repeat of the world championship final, Advani stamped his authority over Kothari.

The 38-year-old, who had defeated Kothari recently in the longer format of 1000-point, won the earlier editions in 2005, 2008, 2014, and 2018. This is in addition to the snooker double he won in 2015.

The short format was a best-of-9 contest of 150-point frames, while Sourav made a strong start in the first frame, Advani came from 6-91 with a classy 144 unfinished break to go 1-0 up.

The following two frames saw Advani score heavily with another two-century break to make it 3-0.

With two frames to go, Advani was clearly in the driver's seat. While the last two frames were devoid of any century breaks, the Bangalore-based cueist crafted useful breaks of 81 and 77 to close out the match and the championship.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pankaj Advani lifted his 26th world title as he won the World English Billiards (Long-Up) Championship defeating the same opponent. He won with a comfortable 1000-416 margin against compatriot Sourav Kothari in the final.

Advani will now head back home for 10 days before traveling to Chennai for the National Billiards and Snooker Championship.