World champion Pankaj Advani shuts down cricket fan who questioned his achievements

What’s the story?

Star Indian cuesports athlete Pankaj Advani came out on social Media platform Twitter, to shut up fans who believe that the achievement of the athletes in the other, less popular sports is not as much as that of cricket, which is the most widely followed sport in the country.

It all started off with an innocent tweet from Advani, in which he congratulated junior snooker players Anupama R and Keerthana P for finishing as no. 1 and no. 2 in the U16 World Open Girls Snooker Championship.

Congratulations to our girls Anupama R and Keerthana P for finishing no 1 and 2 in the World Open U-16 Girls Snooker C'ships ??#ProudIndian

— Pankaj Advani (@PankajAdvani247) October 9, 2017

To that, one of his fans replied:

It is very heartening to see our players and athletes doing well in different sports/games now apart from cricket. ??

— Harshraj Gohil ?? (@gohilhr) October 9, 2017

This did not seem to have impressed Advani, who immediately argued that the non-cricket sportspersons in India have always been doing well, implying that it was the lack of interest from fans that undermines their achievement.

They/we were always doing well, actually better than ... !!! https://t.co/wpu6uW64vA

— Pankaj Advani (@PankajAdvani247) October 9, 2017

In case you didn’t know…

Pankaj Advani is the man to turn to, when it comes to cuesports in India. He has already done the country proud by winning gold medals in the 2006 Doha and the 2010 Guangzou Asian Games.

Advani has the unique record of achieving a hattrick of hattricks in the game, winning the World, Asian and Indian championships in the years 2005, 2008 and 2012. His achievements have also earned him the Arjuna Award in 2004, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2006, and the Padma Shri award in 2009 from the Indian government.

Heart of the matter

In a series of tweets, Advani had a bit of a heated discussion with a couple of cricket fans on Twitter. The two fans seemingly were of the opinion that since there is a lot more competition between the Indian players in cricket, the cricketers’ achievements were greater.

One of the fans even went to the extent of calling Advani “bitter”, over the extra popularity that cricket generates in India.

How is the achievement greater than Cricketers, look at the active number of cricketers vs the sports you referring to, stop being so bitter

— RKM (@RKM79) October 19, 2017

Is far tougher to make a career in cricket with the competition around and laws on economics work on demand & supply, also a previous tweet

— RKM (@RKM79) October 19, 2017

Have u tried playing tennis, golf or Snooker?? Also, let's not forget number of countries competing in truly global sports!! https://t.co/a531lEXKfZ

— Pankaj Advani (@PankajAdvani247) October 19, 2017

Another fan even went on to post a flurry of tweets, explaining that it crowd pressure that makes cricket tougher, according to him.

For some cricket and soccer is hard and for others snooker and tennis etc.Pointless debateDidn'r expect such narrow mindedness frm u

— cricket freak (@cricloverakku) October 19, 2017

Fr ex, m very good at chess nd cricket, have played both at proffessional levelBut found chess 2 be easier because of no audience pressure

— cricket freak (@cricloverakku) October 19, 2017

u only factr d skill involved,bt not other variables involved in spectator sportWhen 50 thousand are watching live its a diff ball game sir

— cricket freak (@cricloverakku) October 19, 2017

Humans tend to execute their skills much better when no one is watchingUnder pressure everyone crumblesMy personal experience

— cricket freak (@cricloverakku) October 19, 2017

So believe me when lots of people are watching and screaming and your one move can be fatal, people piss in their pants

— cricket freak (@cricloverakku) October 19, 2017

Something a snooker player will never experienceSo stop being an arsehat and treat each sport equal

— cricket freak (@cricloverakku) October 19, 2017

However, Advani had the perfect response for this fan…

Why don't u come take my place and represent India in the forthcoming World Billiards/snooker Championship? Thanks for the compliment btw ? https://t.co/WMK7rp58Zv

— Pankaj Advani (@PankajAdvani247) October 19, 2017

What’s next?

While these little conversations on Twitter bring out the general lack of interest in other sports in India, Pankaj Advani will be looking to put all these behind him, and represent India in the World Billiard Championship, which is set to get underway in Leeds, United Kingdom, today.

Author’s take:

Let’s get one thing straight. No sport is easy. Every sport has its own set of challenges, and the athletes in these games require different types of skill set to excel in their respective sports. Hence, due respect mush be given to all the sportsperpersons across different fields.