Pankaj Advani storms into the semifinals of World Billiards Championship

Leeds, October 26, 2012: India's most celebrated cueist and 7-time world champion Pankaj Advani had a mixed day on day 9 of the World Billiards Championship in Leeds. As a quarterfinalist in both the Time and Points format, Pankaj faced tough competition from Peter Gilchrist, to lose the match 1-4 in the Points format, but proceeded to display great class in the quarterfinals of the Timed format to beat fellow Indian Rupesh Shah 1647-705. Securing a quarterfinal spot against Peter Gilchrist in the Points format, Pankaj had earlier beaten Robin Wilson 4-1 in a best of 7 frames encounter on day 8 of the championships. Commenting on his quarterfinal game against an old rival and seasoned cueist, the young Indian acknowledged that the Singapore representative at the table had kept the pressure on him throughout the game and had played some great Billiards. Moving on to play in the quarterfinals of the Time Format, against Rupesh Shah, Pankaj continued his winning streak from the previous day with a strong start, with 2 double century breaks and 4 century breaks before he proceeded to pocket the game with a 940 point margin in 180 minutes cementing his authority in the sport and will now face Dhruv Sitwala in the penultimate round of the championships. "I am very happy to be playing fellow Indian and a great friend in the semis. With two Indians at the table, we are guaranteed a spot for the country in the finals of the Timed format and it also gives us a great chance of bringing the title home", said one of the last two Indians standing as day 10 of the championships commences.     Shuffling between Sheffield and India, Pankaj is the only active cueist to play both Billiards and Snooker at the highest level and had chosen to participate in the World Billiards Championship over the International Snooker Championships, after a clash in dates made him pick one. Press release