Advani confident of defending National titles

New Delhi: Not disheartened with the failed title-defence in recent IBSF World Championship, country`s ace

cueist Pankaj Advani is confident of retaining the crowns in the National Billiards and Snooker Championship commencing in Pune from Monday. Advani, the defending champion in both the billiards and snooker formats, said that he has geared up to negotiate some stiff competition in the National Championship. "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 told reporters from Pune. "I failed to defend the IBSF World titles but I don`t think that will affect my performance in the national," the 24-year-old Bangalore boy 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 point format and time format and the Indian admitted that the Englishman was just great with his masterly potting on the green baize. Advani lost the final to Russel in points format, while he went down to the same opponent in semifinal of the time format. "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. Asked about the points format summit-clash, he said, "I edged past Singapore`s Peter Gilchrist 5-4 in an extremely close contest and in the semifinal was too tired. The match lasted for five hours." "It left me drained as there was only one hour gap between final and the semis. So I failed to deliver against Russell. You cannot allow him to occupy the table," Advani added. Advani criticised the scheduling of World Championship and the National back-to-back by the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India, saying that it left him physically as well as mentally tired. "I`ll say that it`s not ideal to organise back-to-back tournaments. The schedule is bit too long. You have 15 days of National, before that you had World Championship.” "It`s not a good idea. It takes a toll on your body," the seven-time world champion said. Meanwhile, eight-time world champion Geet Sethi, who lost in semifinal of both points and time format in the World Championship, admitted he was not consistent throughout the event and his game fluctuated at crucial junctures. "My game fluctuated a lot and I felt inconsistent at times. May be because age is catching up fast with me. I am 49 now and my body is feeling the pressure," said Sethi. Sethi lost to Russell in semifinal of the point format. In the time format, two-time world champion Gilchrist proved to be Sethi`s nemesis. Sethi, who will now be playing in the Nationals, said that he is confident of reaching at least the final. "I rediscovered my game during the World Championship. I constructed big breaks of 500-600 and that instilled a lot of confidence in me. I am hopeful of performing well in the Nationals," he said. PTI