New Delhi, Oct 27: National champion Pankaj Advani today became only the second Indian to claim the World Snooker Championship when he defeated second seed Saleh Mohammad of Pakistan by 11-6.
Advani, who was playing in his first world championship, showed tremendous maturity and patience against his seasoned opponent to win the coveted title at Jiangmen in China 35-64 7-79 73-10 66-56 46-59 87 13 81-43 71-13 0-95 15-93 64-36 78-33 43-47 135-0 65-46 70-67 63-22, according to information received here.
With this win, the world title has come to India only for the second time after a gap of 19 years. Late O B Agarwal had won the title in 1984 by defeating T Parson of Wales in Dublin, Ireland.
The 19-year-old player from Bangalore took a while to adjust to the tension of the big stage as he lost the first two frames rather easily.
However, he gathered himself up in time and won five of the next six frames to lead 5-3. But the young lad seemed to be tired at the end of the session allowing his opponent to run away with the next two frames as the two went into the breather locked at 5-5.



The parity at the break seemed to have given Advani the confidence of going all the way as he returned to the table with a stride.



The country's youngest national champion looked in a hurry as he dropped only one frame in the second session and gave no chance to the Pakistani to bounce back.



Bureau Report