Pankaj Advani Wins 6-Red Snooker Title

Pankaj Advani was a bundle of confidence and concentration as he got the better of a fighting Alok Kumar 7-6 in the final of the MCC-Kumbhat 6-RED invitation snooker tournament here on Sunday.

In a long drawn final that went down the wire, the two players, who were equally good technique-wise in their own ways, fought for 160 minutes before Advani brought his experience into play to dismantle the hopes of Alok in the best of 13 frames format.

Needing a pink to put an end to the see-saw battle, Advani went for the black and blue and once he achieved them, cleared the table to thunderous applause from the spectators in the venue.

Advani won the match 68(68)-0, 37-1, 0-68(68), 0-41, 71(71)-0, 72-0, 36-37, 45-16, 28-13, 9-41, 0-48, 17-39, 39-30.

After defeating Shivram Arora in the semifinal in the morning 41-14, 48-1, 48-14, 23-50, 41-0, 0-46, 37-19, 69-0, Advani came refreshed in the evening for the title clash.

Earlier, Alok managed to beat Lucky Vatnani in the semifinal 0-42, 35-31, 43-32, 41-11, 36-0, 2-36, 59-15, 48-8.

In the final, Advani started off strongly with breaks of 68 and 48 and 6-3. He  was looking to wrap up the tenth frame for the title. But it turned out to be a different story totally as Alok, who is known for his fighting qualities and also slowing down the process of his play at the table, found his rhythm and went on to win to level of the frame scores to 6-6.

The decider was closely fought with many visits bringing small scores but Advani kept his superiority throughout the frame. At one stage, Advani, who was looking confident, succeeded with the black and then pocketed blue.

Pink was in line for success and then Advani in his own inimitable style had no difficulty in clearing the table and took the title.