The Hindu : Sport : Pankaj Advani clinches his fifth National crown

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Pankaj Advani clinches his fifth National crown

Geet Sethi

Advani registered a hard-earned 6-5 victory
It was a praiseworthy effort by Vatnani

FILE PHOTO

Pankaj Advani, who won the National snooker crown. —

PUNE: Despite a mid-match resurgence by Lucky Vatnani, who levelled scores at 3-3 after trailing 0-3, a confident Pankaj Advani won his fifth National snooker title with a hard-earned 6-5 victory at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana on Monday.

The defending champion performed with the same fluency, which he had exhibited throughout the tournament especially in the opening three frames in which he compiled runs of 56, 64 and 80 with which he established a commanding advantage against a cueist who was making his maiden appearance in the final of the nation's most prestigious event.

The resilience exhibited by Hyderabad's Vatnani was therefore all the more praiseworthy as he overcame his earlier lack of conviction by launching a spirited attack on his opponent by winning three successive frames with carefully constructed breaks of 46 and 61 to level at 3-3. Against an opponent of Advani's stature and accomplishment this was commendable and for a moment it looked as if the 24-year-old who has spent considerable time honing his game in the UK would be successful in creating a huge upset.

Seasoned campaigner

The 25-year-old Advani is a seasoned campaigner now and with an enviable past record of converting adversity into triumph. One was therefore not surprised to see him retaliate with equal ferocity and assurance to win a close seventh frame 55-45 on the Pink to go ahead 4-3 and then accumulated 74 points in the eighth allowing Vatnani to collect only 16 points which took him to 5-3 and requiring only one frame for the match and the title.

That last frame is always the most difficult to win. Advani succumbed at this stage to a bout of unexpected nerves and surrendered his 5-3 advantage as once again Vatnani raised his own benchmark to level at 5-5 to force the decider. But in the end, the sheer weight of his achievement and the self-belief induced through those achievements assisted the player from Bangalore to successfully defend his title as he won a low scoring decider 58-11.

In the final analysis Advani defended his title successfully and in the process won his fifth National snooker title along with the highest break of 136, which he compiled in the semifinal against Kamal Chawla.

From Vatnani's perspective this match will instil a much-needed belief that he can perform on the big occasion.

One must not forget that Vatnani actually reached the final through the qualifying rounds and became only the third person to do so.

The result (final):

Pankaj Advani bt Lucky Vatnani 6-5 (76(56)-22, 71(64)-68(38), 93(80)-00, 27-71, 23-96(46,33), 4-83(61), 55-45, 74-16, 22-68, 29-84(45), 58-11).

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