Pankaj, Geet off to winning start at World billiards

Advani defeated Austria's Martin Schmidt 874-149 in his opening fixture and then went on to win the second game against Martin Budge of Guernsey 732-183 in the Time Format.

Sethi put paid to the hopes of Jonny Evans of England 687-168 while Sitwala thrashed Ryan Mears of England 702-134 in his first game and hardly broke a sweat against compatriot Arantxa Sanchis to win 686-122 in Group C.

The only woman from India in the fray, national champion Sanchis, also lost her second game against Mears 206-368.

Another star Indian cueist, Devendra Joshi went down fighting against Michael Pearson of Australia 403-446 in his opening tie but recovered to win the next game against countrymate Jaiveer Dhingra 522-282.

 

The newly-formed World Billiards Limited has brought together the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) and World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) events for a first-ever unified world Championship.

Till last year, there were two different bodies - IBSF and WPBSA - which were organising three different world championships.

Nine cueists took part in the qualifying stage and Indian duo of Manish Jain and Jaiveer Dhingra along with Englishmen Martin Goodwill and Ian Williamson gained berths in the draw. Goodwill defeated India's Alok Kumar to make the grade.

For the first time, 18 Indian cueists are taking part in the world championship which has attracted 65 players from 15 nations.

Results of Indian players:

Dhruv Sitwala bt Ryan Mears 702-134; Arun Agarwal bt Phil Mumford 540-317; Pankaj Advani bt Martin Schmdt 874-147; Devendra Joshi lost to Michael Pearson 403-446; Sourav Kothari bt Phil Davis 602-121; Geet Sethi bt Jonathan Evans 687-168; Alok Kumar lost to Martin Goodwill 220-453; Ashok Shandilya bt Roberet Hall 429-218.