Advani’s double strike at Malta

This was only the second time that the time format and points format championships were held together and Advani created history by winning both the crowns.

In 2002 at Sydney, Ashok Shandilya, whom Advani beat in the semifinals, had won the points format title while Mike Russel of England got the better of Sethi in the time format.

Advani is also the second cueist in the world to have won both the world billiards and snooker title after Paul Mifsud of Malta.

While Mifsud won the snooker title in 1985, 86 and bagged the billiards crown in 1979, Advani clinched the snooker championship in 2003 in China. He also holds the Asian billiards crown.

For Sethi — who has won the amateur crown thrice and the professional title four times so far — this was a third successive defeat in the final of the IBSF World Championship.

Sethi, who bagged the title in 1985, 87 and 2001, had lost the summit clash in 2002 against Russel and then went down to Lee Lagan of England in the points format final in 2003 at Hyderabad. The championship was not held last year.

This was also the second win for Advani over his highly-rated opponent in a week as he had defeated the seven-time world champion in the quarterfinal of the points format after twice coming from behind.

Advani began on a confident note in the final as he took a 616-546 lead in the opening two hours session but Sethi came back strongly to put pressure on his opponent with some useful breaks after the breather.

It was a battle of nerves thereafter as Advani once again proved that he has the ability to raise the bar under pressure as he compiled a break of 334 points to strech his lead to 390 points around the half way mark.