Indian cueist Pankaj Advani has taken the bronze at the 2016 Asian Snooker Championships in Qatar, in joint third place with Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh. The 32nd edition of the tournament saw Advani perform exceedingly well in the initial stages, moving to the knockout rounds without losing a single match.
It was Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn of Thailand who won top honours, beating Mohamed Shehab of the United Arab Emirates 6-2 for gold. Thailand have dominated at the tournament, with Thai players winning 16 of the 32 editions of the Championships so far.
Lertsattayathorn beat Advani, who had been the favourite to win the tournament before its commencement, in the pair’s semi-final match, and at that match made the highest break of the tournament with 142 against the Indian.
Advani is widely regarded as the best cueist the country has produced, with two Asian Games gold medals and a long list of titles to his name. He is also the country’s youngest national snooker champion and the youngest to win the world amateur titles in both snooker and billiards a record eight times. Making his debut in snooker at only 17, Advani won the IBSF World Snooker Championship title in 2003.
In addition to his billiards and snooker titles, the 30-year-old was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2004, receiving the country's highest sporting honour – the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award – for the following year.
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