19-time World Champion Pankaj Advani settles for bronze in Asian 10-red Snooker

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Nineteen-time World Champion Pankaj Advani had to settle for a bronze in the after a 5-0 loss to Ireland’s Brendan O’Donoghue in the semifinals on Saturday. 

The 33-year-old Indian seemed off-colour as he went down (5-0)1-48, 8-61(61), 37-48, 41-71, 25-66 to O’Donoghue. 

O’Donoghue scored two 20-plus breaks to win the first frame 48-1 and followed it up with a break of 61 in the second to make it 2-0. The Irish extended his lead in the third frame with a lucky snooker. He continued his impressive run and sealed the match with effortless wins in the balance of two frames. 

Pankaj, who returns with a silver and a bronze medal from the Asian tournaments, will shift to billiard. He is set to play in the selection camp for the World Championship, which will be held in Bengaluru from October. 

The IBSF World Snooker and Billiards Championship are scheduled to be held in November in Myanmar. Pankaj Advani is the defending champion in the snooker championship. He had piped Iran's Amir Sarkhosh in the final in 2017. 

(With PTI inputs)