Good Sports: BILLIARDS CHAMPS
Billiards was popular among British Army officers stationed in India during the 19th century, so perhaps it’s not surprising that Indians have been a major force in the sport, winning 17 amateur and professional world titles. At the recent World Billiards Championship in England, Pankaj Advani won the world title in the timed format, while Rupesh Shah won the world title in the points format. It was Advani’s seventh world title in billiards (including one professional title), one short of the eight titles that the great Geet Sethi won.
In 2005, Advani won world titles in both the timed and points format, the first cueist to ever do so. He won dual titles in 2008 as well. Only 27, he has a chance to become an all-time great.
For Shah, 39, it was the second world title. He also won in the points format in 2007.
“It is a noteworthy event when an Indian wins a world title and more so when two of them do so at a World Championship,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a congratulatory message to Advani and Shah.
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Khabar's previous report on this sportsman was in May 2012:
http://www.khabar.com/magazine/chaitime/good_sports_advani_snookers_them_all
For good details on all these statistics, see "Pankaj Advani: Eighth World title and more to come"
in CanIndia, October 30, 2012
http://canindia.com/2012/10/pankaj-advani-eighth-world-title-and-more-to-come/
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