Pankaj Advani from India defends Asian Snooker title

Doha: Indian player Pankaj Advani successfully defended his Asian Snooker title after defeating Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh 6-3  (72-42, 72-0, 70-49, 41-66, 70-17, 30-68, 74-34, 12-50, 64-44) in the best of 11 frames final at Doha, Qatar.  The 36th edition of the Asian Snooker Championship was organized at Al-Messila Luxury Resort where cueists from 19 countries were in contention of the title.  Pankaj was unbeaten during the group stage and obtained second seed for the knockouts. During the knockout matches, he defeated Tam Yun Fung of Hong Kong 4-2 in the last-16 stage, Alijalil Ali of Iraq 5-3 in the quarter-finals, Cheung Ka Wai of Hong kong 5-3 during Semis and in the final knocked out Amir Sarkhosh 6-3 to retain his title.  23-time World champion, Pankaj, will now compete in the Qatar 6Red World Cup starting Friday.