India's No. 1 snooker player Aditya Mehta, who has been chosen for the prestigious Arjuna award, has said that this recognition would help raise the profile of his sport in the country.
The IBSF World Men's Snooker Championship, which was originally scheduled to take place in Bahrain, will now be held in Bangalore from November 28 to December 3.
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).
Sourav Kothari amassed huge breaks of 407, 295 and 170 in a display of relentless scoring to register a comfortable 1047-663 win over Pankaj Advani.
Defending champion Sourav Kothari continued his spectacular show to outperform multiple-time world champion Mike Russell of England and enter his second consecutive World Billiards (long-up) final.
The Sports Ministry confirmed on Thursday that it will stick to the original list of winners for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards, thereby dashing discus thrower Krishna Poonia's hopes of being conferred the country's highest sporting honour.