Reigning World Billiards Champion Pankaj Advani has set his eyes on a golden double at the 2006 Doha Asian Games and the title in the World Junior Snooker Championship in Bahrain, starting on August 15.
The 20-year-old Advani, who lifted snooker and billiards world titles in 2003 and 2004 respectively, said he would continue to compete in domestic and world level events in both the versions.
"The knowledgeable persons in cuesport may differ but I am comfortable playing both billiards and snooker, though one is technically different from the other," Advani said in Chennai.
Advani, however, said he would not touch 'pool games' since managing billiards and snooker itself was a difficult task.
"The fact that I have won the the world titles in billiards and snooker just make me feel that I can do it again. I cannot give up either of the games because I feel I am playing them equally well.
"It is not about being extremely bad in one game and doing well in the other. It is just combination of both," Advani, the first player to win both the point-format and time-format IBSF world titles, said.
Advani, who became the third youngest player in the world snooker history and only the second Indian after late Omprakash Bharadwaj Agarwal (in 1984) to win the coveted title in 2003, said he would cross hurdle by hurdle or event by event.
Advani said was confident of his winning the Bahrain World Junior (under-21) snooker title (Aug 15 to 26) and a few other tournaments ending with the world senior championship in Karachi.
"My immediate goal is to win the world junior title in Bahrain and then start working for the Doha Asian Games. The year 2005 has been very good one for me in billiards. Some times I tend to lose focus in one to do well in the other. But so far I have managed to do well in handling both. So I plan to continue to play both for quite some time," Advani said.
The prodigy in the cuesports, who had picked up the cue when he was barely ten-year-old and by 11 compiled his first century break in billiards and snooker, expressed certain constraints in playing in the main world circuit.
"In snooker, you need to travel to England to play the main world circuit, which I do not want to do because so many different factors are loaded against us (Indians)," Advani, the only player so far to have equaled Geet Sethi's record of winning all the three titles -- junior and senior billiards and snooker -- in a single national championship in 2003, said.
Advani, who has been training under Arvind Savur in Bangalore, says that over the years he had developed his own style and techniques.
"Now it is more of mental (make up) for us. Defenitely we have got flaws and our techniques and style need to be touched upon once in a while. Camps will help us to achieve optimum levels and what I want to overcome is probably my own mind when it starts playing tricks with me."
On distinct styles of play in comparison to his and that of Geet Sethi, Advani said "when at his best, Geet (Sethi) was terrific in billiards. I had defeated him on three occasions, once in the nationals and twice in the world events.
"To me his strength is his discipline but as far as technique is concerned, we all have our own ways. One cannot change the technique to suit the style. I play to my strength and try to eliminate weaknesses," he said.
On the popularity of the game, Advani, who reflected the sudden spurt of interest by the younger generation in the sport, said "once the youngsters try the game, it is so addictive that you just don't want to go away from the table.
I feel that people cannot ignore this game for long. The number of titles won by our players will be enough to gain recognition for the cue sport."
About corporate sponsorship, he feels that the game has to be marketed better. "Now-a-days it is all about marketing.
"Cricket is popular because it is marketed really well. The corporates should look at a sport in which the personalities have achieved. I cannot think of a better example than cuesport.
"I may be selfish by saying this. But you look at the track record. We have 20 world titles, which I do not think any other game has created. The corporates should look at the achievements, not just at the popularity of a game.
"Definitely, the game needs to be marketed professionally. This is where the Federation and the state associations have to play their part," he said.
