Advani confident but critical of national meet schedule

Not disheartened with the failed title defence in recent World billiards championship,Pankaj Advani is confident of retaining the crowns at the National Billiards and Snooker Championship commencing in Pune from Monday,though he was critical of the timing of the tournament.

Not disheartened with the failed title defence in recent World billiards championship,Pankaj Advani is confident of retaining the crowns at the National Billiards and Snooker Championship commencing in Pune from Monday,though he was critical of the timing of the tournament.

Advani,the defending champion in both billiards and snooker formats,said he is geared up to negotiate some stiff competition in the Nationals. I am confident of retaining the national titles. Geet Sethi,Dhruv Sitwala and Ashok Shandilya will present a tough challenge in the championship but I am hopeful of delivering the best, Advani said.

However,he criticised the scheduling by the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India,saying it left him physically and mentally tired. Ill say that its not ideal to organise back-to-back tournaments. The schedule is a bit too long. You have 15 days of Nationals,before that you had the World Championship. Its not a good idea. It takes a toll on your body, the seven-time world champion said.

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Asked about his campaign in the World meet he said,I failed to defend the World titles but I dont think that will affect my performance in the nationals, the 24-year-old added. The main round of billiards championship will take place from August 30-September 6,followed by snooker from September 7-14.

In the World Championship,Advani lost to Mike Russell in both points and time format and the Indian admitted he was outplayed.

Russell is a great player. He is the best. I lost in the time format because I did not capitalise on the start. Had I started off better,it would have presented a different picture. The start was very crucial, Advani said.

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