In the long format, World Billiards champion Sourav Kothari defeated veteran Pankaj Advani by a huge margin in the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championship here on Thursday. Kothari made big breaks of the 407, 295 and 170 with strong performance. He won the match lasting two hours and 30 minutes with a big margin of 1047-663. Kothari will face Robert Hall of England in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Pankaj Advani won the World Professional Billiards Championship competition by defeating champion Mark Russell. On September 9, 2009, Pankaj defeated the defending champions 2030-1253 in the title match played at the Northern Snooker Center on Sunday. With this victory, Pankaj became the second Indian to occupy the title in the 139-year history of billiards. Earlier in the year 1992, this title was won by Geet Sethi.
In the league match of the tournament, Pankaj defeated Geet Sethi 818-482
Pankaj won gold medal at the Asian Games in Doha in 2006.
