Abu Dhabi: Indian snooker ace Pankaj Advani reckons he has got the monkey of his back by winning the 6-Red Asian Championship.
For someone who won the IBSF World Snooker Championship 2003 in Jiangmen, China, at the age of 18, to then go without an Asian Championship for such a long spell would have rankled.
However, all that disappointment was erased on Sunday, with Advani getting the better of Malaysia’s Keen Hoon Moh for a hard-fought 7-5 (39-4, 6-51, 40-14, 0-37, 41-7, 44-8, 21-38, 45-24, 1-35, 45-36, 15-38, 53-24) win.
“I was trying for long but not winning. So I’m happy to win an Asian title in any format of snooker. Sometimes you got to hang in there. You have to dig deep and do something like I did today,” said a jubilant Advani, who also has the IBSF World 6-Red World Snooker Championship title under his belt, which he won on his debut in the short format in 2014.
Advani, who is also leading India’s challenge in the team event, was of the view that the title would do a world of good for the rest of the season.
“The Indian Open will be in Hyderabad and the World Billiards later this year. The Cue Slam will begin soon and so this title is a huge boost,” revealed Advani, who was also all praise for the Karnataka Billiards Association for their support in the run-up to the tournament.
“They put on a match cloth where I could play on the conditions for the last two days. I think that really helped me get adjusted to the conditions here. I owe a lot to them and it’s like my second home. Playing on those cloths for two days made a huge difference. Although I didn’t start off brilliantly in this tournament I still felt really comfortably later.”