It was a win-win situation for the Indian cue sport on the occasion of Independence Day as the Pankaj Advani-led India B secured a gold while India A bagged a silver in the inaugural World Billiards Team Championship here.
The winning team comprising Advani, Rupesh Shah, Devendra Joshi and Ashok Shandilya edged past the other national side (India A) 5-4 in an exciting final here last night.
In a first of its kind, the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) decided to conduct a World Team event right after the Commonwealth Games, to showcase the sport for a possible inclusion in the next edition of the quadrennial sporting event.
This win takes the world title tally of India's poster boy of cue sports, Advani, to an unprecedented 10.
The Bengaluru ace has entered the record books yet again, this time it is for winning the highest number of world titles by any Indian in any sThe title clash was a thrilling contest that went down to the wire. It was a best-of-nine showdown with three rounds of 60-minute matches to be played by three players at a time.
India A comprising Alok Kumar, B Bhaskar, Sourav Kothari and Dhruv Sitwala, took the initial lead of 2-1 in the first of three rounds.
The match took a turn in favour of India B as they bounced back with a 2-1 win in Round 2. When it all came down to the final round, both teams were looking for two out of three wins, and it was India B and the two world champions -- Advani and Shah - who rose to the occasion.
Advani handed a thumping defeat to Kothari with a scoreline of 613-116, with breaks of 216, 94, 86, 68 and 58. Kothari only managed a solitary break of 67. Two-time world champion Shah got the better of Kumar with a facile 379-90 win. He compiled breaks of 125, 119 and 55.