Thanks to their rich medal haul in the Guangzhou Asian Games, cueists Pankaj Advani, Alok Kumar and Yasin Merchant, among others, were on Sunday honoured at a felicitation programme organised by the Billiards & Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) and Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA).
The semi-finals of the ONGC-IBSF World Billiards (Time Format) championship will be an all-Indian affair, after defending champion Pankaj Advani, eight-time World champion Geet Sethi, Rupesh Shah and Devendra Joshi made the grade at the Karnataka State Billiards Association in Bangalore on Monday.
Reigning champion Pankaj Advani scored a hard-fought victory over Rupesh Shah to set up a title clash with veteran Geet Sethi in the points format of the ONGC IBSF World Billiards Championship in Bangalore on Thursday. In the first semi-final, Sethi staged a remarkable recovery to beat Devendra Joshi.
The Bangalore-based cueist beat Devendra Joshi in the time format final 2370-2020 to add the crown to the points format one he captured last week.
The 23-year-old Bangalore-based cueist posted a 150-90, 151-0, 150-24, 150-0, 86-150, 150-72, 150-12 victory to win the ONGC-IBSF World Billiards Points Format Championship.
Title contender Pankaj Advani won the clash of bigwigs as he tamed Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 4-1 to enter the semi-finals of the points format competition in the ONGC IBSF World Billiards Championship in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Pankaj Advani survived a scare before beating New Zealand's Gary Oliver in a league encounter of the ONGC IBSF World Billiards Championship in Bangalore on Tuesday. The 23-year-old local boy prevailed over his dogged opponent 3-2 (101-151, 151-98, 117-151, 152-0, 151-107), but not before some tense moments in an edge-of-the-seat match at the Karnataka State Billiards Association hall.
Pankaj Advani advanced to the final of the ONGC IBSF time-format World Billiards Championship defeating Geet Sethi 1269-1003 in Bangalore on Tuesday.
The 10 Reds Asian Tour Snooker tournament was scheduled to be held in Bengaluru in the last week of March but has been postponed after the organisers failed to guarantee visas for Pakistani cueists.