Continental spread on Advani146;s table

Four-time world champion Michael Ferreira predicted Pankaj Advani as the dark horse to win the national billiards title last month and the f...

Four-time world champion Michael Ferreira predicted Pankaj Advani as the dark horse to win the national billiards title last month and the former world snooker champion did not disappoint him. In fact, within a month the 19-year-old went a step further to make Ferreira more prouder by crowning himself the Asian title at the fourth ONGC-BPCL Asian championship, presented by Idea, here on Saturday.

Having won the final in style 8212; he blanked out Chaithanasakun Praput 5-0 8212; the expectations have soared sky high and he is now billed as the dark horse in the IBSF world billiards championship in Malta next month. 8216;8216;It is a happy feeling to be performing at the highest level in both versions of the game, especially since both have completely different techniques,8217;8217; Advani said.

The teenager took on the 1999 former world champion from Thailand and rolled past him once the initial butterflies in the stomach had settled down. 8216;8216;Once I got a good start, everything fell into place. I gave him three chances in that game but he could not capitalise,8217;8217; said Advani about his first Asian title.

The second year student of Commerce at the Mahaveer Jain College said he owed such a good show to the intense run-up to the event and coach Manoj Kothari8217;s advice of concentrating on one ball when faced with a tight situation.

What made it even more special for the youngest champion was standing up on the podium and receiving the gold medal with national anthem playing in the background. 8216;8216;I knew the anthem was played when Geet Sethi, Ashok Shandilya and Devendra Joshi won the previous titles. But being there myself was a new experience.8217;8217;

An employee with ONGC and the younger brother of Shree Advani, who initiated him into the game, he felt the world championship would be a different ball game altogether in the time format.

Result: Pankaj Advani Ind bt Praput C. Thai 5-0 100-64, 100-32, 100-0, 100-0, 101-51.