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Journalism of Courage
Had Pankaj Advani not taken to the green baize, he surely would have been a big hit dealing with rooks and bishops on 64 squares. The 18-years-old prodigy8217;s uncanny knack of plotting moves and thinking ahead of his opponents makes one wonder if snooker8217;s gain has not been chess8217; loss.
At the Rs 5-lakh S Chand-NSCI Snooker Championship, the 1st year B.Com student from Jain College, Bangalore, gave a lesson or two to senior pro Sarang Shroff. Advani, after being 1-2 down, showed all tricks in the book to outwit Shroff 6-4 to enter the final, where he will take on former national champion Alok Kumar. Alok, matching local lad Manan Chandra stroke for stroke, won with an identical margin in the best-of-eleven frame semifinals.
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Shot in the arm for Advani |
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New Delhi: Eighteen-year-old Pankaj Advani will soon be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Steve Davis, Stephen Henry, Ronnie O8217;Sullivan and Mark Williams in Sheffield, England, when he turns a pro later this year. A major promoter of cue sports in the country, S Chand 038; Co, have agreed to sponsor both Advani and Delhi8217;s Manan Chandra for the coming season and gradually adopt both to groom them into thoroughbreads. Both Advani and Manan will have to play the Challenger Series to break into top 128 who play in the professional circuit. To start with, Gupta said that he was planning to invest Rs. 1 lakh per month on each players and, if need be, increase the amount depending on how their careers are shaping. Manan has already made his appearance in the professional circuit last year 8212; he spent from his own pocket 8212; while Advani will be making his debut. Talking to The Sunday Express, Advani said that he had been looking for a sponsor and the offer of Gupta has come as a shot in the arm. 8216;8216;I need to play at that level along with top-notchers to make a mark. In India, we do have competitions but Sheffield will be a different class altogether,8217;8217; said the reigning national champion from Bangalore. 8216;8216;I realised this in Taupao New Zealand world junior championship recently. I lost to an unseeded player, one year younger to me, who was the eventual winner. He was too good for words, a great future potential.8217;8217; Manan had already indicated that he would go to Sheffield after his firsthand experience last year and how it had helped him sharpen his game. 8216;8216;They players there play for 10 months with just a couple of months break and that8217;s what makes the difference,8217;8217; he said. R Ramachandran Story continues below this ad |
Shroff had shown glimpses of a throughbred pro in his quarter-final match against Kamal Chawla. From a no-win situation, he had staged a remarkable recovery to reach the last four. But in the semi-final against Advani, he needed to raise the bar. Advani won the first frame rather easily 89-1 with his clever play and that was followed by Shroff nailing his way back. The business from Mumbai stopped the college boy from Bangalore by taking the next two frames.
But Advani stopped the streak. After playing around the cushion and placing the cue ball at top centre, he forced Shroff commit errors. To compound his misery, Shroff8217;s cue tip got broken in the fourth frame and after that he had to curb his aggressive game.
Advani picking the cue, won the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh frames for a 5-2 lead before Shroff regained his composure to pull off the next two. Leading 5-4 Advani made minimum error as he cut down on risky shots and waited for his opponent to make mistakes. On his third visit, Advani made a break of 47 for a frame score of 75-7 to seal Shroff8217;s fate.
Manan Chandra, who turned professional last year, was expected to give Alok Kumar some tough time. And, he did, though briefly. Lead kept changing hands until the sixth game when Alok made it 3-3 and soon after the cue ball started to roll his way. For, he claimed the next two frames 8212; the eighth one at 76 without allowing Manan a point 8212; for a 5-3 lead.
Manan took the next at 52-0 but the 10th frame saw Alok going into safety mode. Manan had the upperhand at 48-28 but a mishit at the top pocket red saw him squandering the chance. Alok picked from where Manan left and went for the red-black-red-pink combination to go 50-48 up. He then potted the blue and the pink and that was indication enough for Manan to offer his hand to Alok.
