Disappointed Advani says Scottish rival played better

Disappointed at losing a close wild card round contest 4-3 to talented rookie Rhys Clark from Scotland in the Indian Open World Ranking Snooker Tournament, national champion and former pro Pankaj Advani praised his opponent's technical skills.

"I am obviously disappointed to lose in the first round. If I had lost 4-0 or 4-1. I would not have been as disappointed, but I came close to winning. My opponent showed lot of composure and matched me in technical play (safety play)," said Advani who lost in the semi finals to compatriot Aditya Mehta in the first edition of the tournament in 2013 in Delhi.

"He is very talented and will be a good player on the pro snooker tour (when he joins it). He will beat some top players. I had to use all my experience to contain him I have no qualms in saying he was the better player yesterday," the Bengaluru cue ace told reporters today.

Advani fought his way back from 2-3 with a half century break to draw level 3-3 in the best-of-seven-frame wild card round contest to decide who would reach the main 64-player draw.

In the deciding seventh frame Advani was trailing his rival but once again came back by potting the black ball to level the score at 58-all before losing the shoot-off on the black ball as his rival sunk it with a double-up shot into the centre pocket.

The Indian champion lost 8-72, 73-29, 83(83)-0, 54-55, 75(75)-0, 8-72, 65-58.

Advani also felt that his year-long absence from the tour, which he quit after being part of it for two years, was the reason he could not control the cue ball as well as he wanted.

"I found it a bit difficult to control the white ball. Not playing in England for more than one year made the difference. Both of us doubled up with the black ball once each. It was the toss of the coin," he said.

Though all six Indian wild cards lost yesterday and failed to make the main draw of 64, Advani felt this time's display was better than in the first edition of the tournament in 2013.

"I thought we had done better this time as I, Dharminder Lily and Faisal Khan came close to winning our matches. But the field last time was better though here too there are several good players," he said.

Advani did not agree with the suggestion that he could have done better had the tournament been held as it was originally scheduled in October last.

"If it had happened then I would have had to think about world billiards which was scheduled immediately afterwards even while playing in this tournament," he said.

The event was put off as it clashed with the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Advani's next assignment is the Asian Billiards in Beijing, China (April 7-13) followed by the Asian Snooker championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (April 23-30) and he was confident of switching over from one form to the other within a short span of ten days.

"I have been making this adjustment all these years," he said.

Former Asian amateur snooker champion and the first Indian to play the professional tour, Yasin Merchant, said he was totally disappointed with the wild cards' show barring Advani's.

"Except for Pankaj, the others lost to the occasion and not to their opponents. They didn't get oppnents of high repute. They could have taken them on," he said.

"Others did not play up to potential. Lily should have walked through his game, the way his opponent was playing. He snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. He made silly mistakes. On the scale of 10, we were three. Lot of work needs to be done. We need conditions like the one here. The tournament of this magnitude caught the players by surprise. The gap is too far between two such events. If we have a series of such events then you get accustomed. Tables also counts for a lot," said Merchant.

Even Advani could have played better, he felt.

"We could have expected Pankaj to do better. I was doing commentary for his game and noticed that his highest break was only 37 in seven frames and his opponent's was 83. His opponent matched his safety to safety. He (Clark) is a rookie. He is an amateur. If Pankaj had raised his game, his opponent would have been under pressure. Pankaj got a bit cautious."

He said it was wrong to compare his achievement on the pro tour with Advani's or Aditya Mehta's, India's sole representative presently as they belonged to different eras and different playing conditions.

"You can't compare Pankaj or Aditya with me. You can't compare (Sachin) Tendulkar and (Sunil) Gavaskar - different era, different set-up. Academies have sprung up now. You have to compare them with Asian players. We have certain advantages and disadvantages. Prize money is more and the game has spread all over. In my era there was only one Chinese."