India’s top cueist Pankaj Advani showed his mettle in the match billed the clash of the titans to defeat England’s Mike Russell 5-2 to enter the final of the IBSF World Billiards Championship.
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Pankaj Advani, who is looking to make it 22 world titles, proved too good for the multiple time world champion Russell, as he got his top game into play that Englishman had absolutely no answer to.
Advani, who is the defending champion will now take on Nay Thway Oo in the summit clash in a repeat of last year’s tournament. Thway Oo had beaten Russell in the semifinals last year before losing to Advani in the final.
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In the semifinal clash against Mike Russell, Pankaj Advani scored Advani scored three back-to-back centuries but managed to convert only two of those frames as the Briton took advantage of the Indian’s error on 142 and made a 150.
The match was evenly poised at two frames a piece and could have gone either way. But Advani appeared to be on a mission as he made breaks of 63 and 123 in the last three frames to race to a 5-2 victory.
Pankaj Advani will now defend his crown and look to claim 22nd world title of the career.