With dates clashing, the Indian cueist decides to skip international snooker for World billiards.
Finally, a decision has been made! Left with the dilemma of choosing between the World Billiards Championship and the International Snooker Championship, Pankaj Advani chose the former, but with a heavy heart.
The clash of dates that left the Indian cueist in a fix. While the World Billiards is slated in Leeds from October 18 to 28, the snooker meet will take place from October 28 to November 4 in China. “It was a choice between two events, not between billiards and snooker as such. I know how hard I have worked to qualify for the China tournament. I know how tough it’s been coming back from crunch situations against the top players and actually winning four matches in a row to qualify for the event. Obviously, it’s with a lot of pain that I have to let go of it. But again, the world billiards is an event I have thoroughly enjoyed playing,” Advani told DNA on Thursday.
He had to draw comfort from the fact of that he would not be losing out on any ranking points. “Obviously, I am losing out on a chance to make more ranking points but my points for the stage I have reached and the prize money for that stage is secure,” he said.
The winner of seven world billiards titles said he was left with no option as talks with the authorities didn’t materialise. “ I have spoken to the chairman of the world snooker association, I have spoken to the world billiards people. It’s a very unique and rare situation for them as well because for the first time there’s a player who is showing equal abilities in both games. I am sure they will look into it the next time.”
The 27-year-old felt delaying his decision of becoming a pro wouldn’t have helped his case. “When I decided to turn pro, I was very clear that I will take up the challenge of playing billiards and snooker at the highest level. If I miss the world billiards, I am not doing any justice,” he added.
When asked what he would do if faced with a similar situation in the future, Advani said, “I would choose the world snooker which happens at Sheffield (Crucible) over anything else because that’s the biggest snooker championship on the planet. Anything else, tough decision. It’s not a black and white area, it’s a grey area.”
Meanwhile, the Pune cueist was elated that the sports ministry had agreed to intervene after the Sports Authority of India (SAI) had earlier announced that they would not be granting funds to the sport in the future. “I didn’t react to the decision immediately as I had complete hope in the sports minister. He is the best sports minister we have ever had. I had faith that he would do the just thing and he has,” he concluded.
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