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Dominant Advani crushes Gilchrist to claim 14th World title

September 27, 2015 15:49 IST

Pankaj Advani

IMAGE: India's Pankaj Advani. Photograph: Getty Images

India's most successful cueist Pankaj Advani won the IBSF World Billiards Championship after a dominating performance against Singapore's Peter Gilchrist in the final to claim his 14th World title.

The 30-year-old proved to be unstoppable as he crushed Gilchrist by a huge margin of 1168 points in the final of Time format in Adelaide.

"I was determined to get even with Peter (Gilchrist) after losing the point format final to him. A productive chat with my sports psychologist brother Shree and a good night's sleep did the trick. We discussed my strategies and mental approach the night before the big final and it all panned out perfectly," Advani said after winning the title.

Advani also managed to avenge his loss in the Point format championship to Gilchrist last week.

Advani started off with a quick century break of 127 to take the initial lead before the Indian ace showed his fine prowess in billiards by smashing successive triple century breaks -- 360 and 301 to take a decisive lead in the contest.

With a comfortable 700-point lead, Advani continued to dominate with breaks of 284, 119, 101 and 106 in quick succession to extend his lead to 1100 points at the halfway mark of the five-hour final.

In the second half, Advani continued to punish his opponent with two more century breaks before Gilchrist staged a mini fight back in the form of a big double century break (284) along with a couple more centuries which helped reduce the deficit.

Advani finished off the contest in grand style with a flawless 430 break that remain unfinished as the match reached the end of its 300 minutes duration.

He once again stamped his authority in billiards at the world level. After annihilating England's Mike Russell in the final of 2012 edition of the Time format, Advani went on to win twin titles in both Point and Time formats in 2014.

Result:

FINAL (Time format): Pankaj Advani defeated Peter Gilchrist 2408 - 1240.

(Breaks)

Pankaj Advani (127, 360, 301, 284, 124, 101, 106, 171, 114, 430*)

Peter Gilchrist (102, 156, 249, 107, 198).

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