Asian Billiards and Snooker Championship | Pankaj Advani fails to qualify for final

Pankaj Advani failed to continue his dream run in international competitions as he was knocked out in billiards at the ongoing continental event in Chandigarh. After winning the quarter-final encounter on Wednesday, the Indian cueist was up against Praput Chaithanasakun with an aim of playing the final. However, the defending champion’s campaign came to a crashing end as he lost the semi-final 3-5. 

After the Thai cueist took the first frame by coming from behind, Advani did well to score 100 in the next one to level the scores. However, Chaithanasakun won the next two frames with breaks of 87 and 68 to take a 3-1 lead. In the next two frames, Advani and Chaithanasakun took one each and made it 4-2 while the seventh frame was won by the Bengaluru man and the semi-final was interestingly poised at 4-3 in Chaithanasakun’s favour.

However, the local favourite failed to make it to the finals as Chaithanasakun won the eighth one with a break of 65 and qualified for the final with a score of 5-3 in the semis.

With Advani’s loss in the semis, India’s challenge has also come to an end in the tournament. Earlier, Dhruv Sitwala, Sourav Kothari and Dhvaj Haria had bowed out from the quarter-final round. Advani had defeated compatriot Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan 5-2 in the quarter-final to book a ticket for the semis.