Head of the cue

Pankaj Advani just won the world billiards title, and shares his thoughts.

Some people have an insatiable appetite for winning. Pankaj Advani, 23, is one of them. He already has four snooker and billiards world titles to his name, apart from a whole lot of other championships under his belt. This week he added yet another championship to his list after beating Geet Sethi in the finals in Bangalore, and he is extremely delighted at the way things turned out. Excerpts from an interview with the star cueist, in which he talks about his current form, the future of Indian cue sports and his personal targets.

Another championship under your belt, how would you assess your performance in the tournament?
I had an indifferent start to the championship, [but] playing in front of your home crowd is always a special feeling. I played a not so good semi-final, but was up for the final against Geet Sethi, who has been a fantastic inspiration for me and others. So beating him in the final was a special feeling.

At 23, you have already achieved a lot. What are your future targets?
Personally, I don’t set any targets for myself. I just take each tournament as it comes and hope to do well. Playing for my country has always been an immense honour for me and hopefully I will continue to perform to the best of my ability.

Despite your achievements, do you think recognition still eludes you or some other cueists?
Well, I can’t speak for others but personally I don’t feel neglected or anything of that sort. Besides, I play for the love of the sport more than anything else. Of course, recognition is important but I would swap all that for more titles and more championships.

How do you see cue sports in India developing in the future?
If you compare it with any other sport you will see that historically it is one sport where we have always done well. And I do think that it will be the case in future as well. There is a lot of talent around but it just needs to be shown the right direction.