Pankaj Advani wins third straight IBSF billiards crown

Myanmar’s Thway was the first player from the nation to ever reach the title round after he stunned everyone to beat multiple world champion Mike Russell 5-2 in the semifinal. And with the home support also by his side for the final clash, he had all the reason to believe he could overcome Advani.

However, the Myanmar cueist lacked experience, something Advani had garnered over the years and his early dominance proved that as Thway was hardly given any space before Advani started with a century break of 108. But, the Indian found it difficult to get his consistency going and soon failed to reach the 150-mark of the frame, allowing Thway on to the table.

This was the chance for the local hero to shine and announce his arrival, but Thway failed to capitalize and Advani took the lead. Though Thway made a kind of comeback to level score at 1-1 with the help of a 147 break, Advani was too clever to get it back by maintaining the lead with breaks of 91 and 54.

The match was as thrilling as it could be as the relentless Thway added another century to make the score 2-2 before Advani stepped up a gear. In the race-to-6 encounter, Advani dominated the next four frames claiming four back to back centuries of 141, 129, 145 and 151 to take the game beyond doubt.

Prior to this, Advani had won the championship in 2016 and in Doha the following the year. In the process, Advani also created the record of dropping only three frames - one in the quarterfinal against Dhvaj and the other two in the final.