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Pankaj Advani wins World Billiards Championship for 26th time
The Hindu
Pankaj Advani won his 26th IBSF World Billiards Championship title in Doha, beating compatriot Sourav Kothari in the final. After trailing 26-180, Advani rallied to win 1000-416. Kothari blamed fatigue for his loss, while Advani credited his success to consistency and hard work. He has won world titles in all formats of billiards and snooker, and is the only player to do so. Advani has won the 'long format' nine times, 'point format' eight times, and the World Team Billiards Championship once.
Indian cueist Pankaj Advani rallied to win the IBSF World Billiards Championship title in Doha on November 21 for a staggering 26th time, beating compatriot Sourav Kothari in the final.
Trailing 26-180 in the first hour, Advani rallied to defeat the 2018 world champion Kothari 1000–416 in a rematch of last year's title clash in Kuala Lumpur.
Playing back-to-back matches, Kothari took the initial lead and was going strong but faltered on a couple of easy chances to allow Advani recover from the deficit.
From there, it got a little scrappy with both players exchanging visits between them and a couple of 150-plus breaks by Advani helped him stretch the lead while Kothari could not fully capitalise on the chances he got.
Advani fired in a break of 214, the highest of the match, and looked unstoppable after that.
Advani maintained a healthy 250-point lead for a better part of the match.
A 99 from Kothari brought the difference down to 150.