Advani, Alok, Sethi qualify for World Billiards

Bangalore: Seven-time world champion Pankaj Advani will spearhead the Indian challenge at the IBSF World Billiards Championship to be held in Carlow, Ireland next month.

Advani, the reigning national snooker champion, finished on top of the heap in the selection trials that concluded today. Apart from Advani, reigning national billiards champion Alok Kumar and veteran Geet Sethi also qualified for the event to be played from August 23 to September 1.Although the 25-year-old Bangalore ace suffered a reverse at the hands of B Bhaskar in the middle of the trials, Advani soon got his act together to finish with five wins in the seven-player field. Advani won his last three games to reaffirm his supremacy on the green baize.In the last edition of the tournament played in India, Advani was defeated by legendary Qatari cueist Mike Russell 0-6 in the Point format of the championship. In 2008, Advani had won both the titles in the Point and Time formats, defeating compatriots Geet Sethi and Devendra Joshi, respectively. PTI