Pankaj Advani accomplished his fifth grand double by defeating compatriot Sourav Kothari 5-0 in the final of the IBSF World Billiards Championship (point-format).
Advani’s world title count now stands at a whopping 27. Advani stamped his authority over Kothari in a rematch of the world title final.
The 38-year-old, who recently defeated Kothari in the longer 1000-point format, won the previous editions in 2005, 2008, 2014, and 2018. This comes on top of the snooker double he won in 2015.
Advani came from 6-91 with a classy 144 unfinished break to go 1-0 up in the short format, which was a best-of-9 game of 150-point frames. While Sourav made a solid start in the opening frame, Advani responded from 6-91 with a classy 144 unfinished break to go 1-0 up.
Advani scored heavily in the next two frames, including two century breaks, to make it 3-0. With two frames remaining, Advani was definitely in command. While there were no century breaks in the final two frames, the Bangalore-based cueist finished the match and the championship with helpful breaks of 81 and 77.
Advani will now spend 10 days at home before heading to Chennai for the National Billiards and Snooker Championship.