Pankaj Advani and Amee Kamani completed the unique triple National crown by winning the men and women’s snooker title in the 84th Manisha National billiards & snooker championship here on Thursday.
They had won National 6-Red snooker championship in Mumbai in December 2016 and the billiards title here. Advani pole-axed Railways’s E. Pandurangaiah 6-0 on Thursday while Amee beat Maharashtra’s Arantxa Sanchis 4-2.
A large number of spectators had assembled to see the clash between a champion cueist Advani and a relatively unknown player like Pandurangaiah. He was one of the four Railways players who had virtually wiped out presence of the PSPB players from the quarterfinals.
‘Panduranga’, competing in his second Nationals, was clueless against an ace, whom he was playing for the first time. His safety tactics and slow and steady approach resulted in a long second frame, but Advani put up a commanding show running up five half-century breaks. “I did not play well,’’ said the vanquished Pandurangaih.
Lavishing praise on his opponent Advani said: “He (Pandurangaih) has been phenomenal. This is his second Nationals and he reached the final.”
It was the eighth National snooker title and a fifth double (billiards and snooker) for Advani, while Amee won her second National snooker title.
Not knowing if any other women has won a triple, a delighted Indore girl, Amee said: “This is a triple for me. I won my first snooker title at Kolkata in 2015. Even if you are leading 3-0, the match is no way over because your opponent can always come back.’’
Meanwhile, it was announced that India has been chosen as the host for the World billiards championship for the next four years and the next Nationals would be held at Visakhapatnam.
The results:
Men: Final:Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt E. Pandurangiah (Rlys) 6-0 [83(50)-1, 52-34, 76(75)-0, 65(64)-18, 82(50)-25, 79(78)-28]. Third place: Malkeet Singh (Rlys) bt Sundeep Gulati (Del) 65-51,67-46,16-59,74-44.
Women: Final: Amee Kamani (MP) bt Arantxa Sanchis (Mah)4-2 [43-52, 79-40, 71-28, 38-48, 72-19, 54-34]. Semifinals:Arantxa bt Vidya Pillai (Kar) 3-2 [45-71, 54-15, 60-65, 56-28, 60-3; Amee bt Varshaa Sanjeev (Kar) 4-1 [49-71, 60-23, 69-32, 63-39] .
