To win first tournament after staying away from 3-ball game for 2 years is special: Pankaj Advani

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], December 25 (ANI): Pankaj Advani, who bagged his 11th National Billiards title this week in Bhopal, has 35 titles to his name now including juniors, snooker, billiards everything.
It was the first Billiards tournament in two years and the ace cueist made a perfect start.
"It is obviously a wonderful feeling for many reasons. One is that we have not had any billiards tournament for the last two years. Ofcourse there have been snooker events- national and international. But to stay away from a three-ball game for two years and then to win the first tournament is special," said Advani while speaking to ANI.
"Also considering the fact that I did not do well in the snooker event to bounce back. This is my 11th Billiards National title. It is my 35th overall National title including juniors, snooker, billiards everything. It is a great feeling to win my 35th overall National title and to end the year on a high as this is the last tournament of the year for us. So, I can rest and take a break and take some time off the game on a happy note," he added.
The timing of the victory was also good as it ended his year on a high and it would have been a perfect one had the World Snooker Championship which was supposed to be played in Doha next month not been postponed due to Omicron scare.
"Right result and momentum to get before a big event. Unfortunately, the World Championship has been postponed because of Omicron variant and travel restriction in many countries and as soon as the international body decides it is safe, they will announce the dates." explained Advani.
The year 2021 was a fruitful one for the Padma Bhushan awardee as he started on a winning note by winning two international titles and also ended the year with a victory.
"It has been a great year considering that there have been many events but with so many gaps and I remember the first event was in March in Bengaluru. It was a National level invitation event which I won in March and then after that a few months later, almost six months later we had an international event in the Asian Snooker IBSF in Qatar similar to World Cup. Before the start of those events I thought without any or much match practice or proper preparation even if I reached the top-4, I will be really happy but to win both of them back to back for me that was the highlight of the year to go unbeaten in international events and that too snooker which is a very unpredictable game," said Advani.
"It all depends on how you are on that particular day, a little bit of luck and how your opponents are doing. There are so many factors. So, definitely, the two international titles that I won the Asian and World Cup for me was the icing on the cake." he added.
Despite the second wave and so many restrictions due to the outbreak, breaks and gaps, the two-time Asian Games gold medallist was not deterred from winning one title after another in 2021.
"The moment COVID hit us in 2020 during March and especially after the second lockdown, I just made peace with the fact that it is going to be a lot of starts and stop in terms of lockdown as you never know when the next lockdown will happen. So, you never know when events will be stopped. So, I think it will be until we all become immune to it. We all have our vaccination. We settle down a bit. So, I don't think that there is really any kind of momentum that we are thinking of as of now. Just looking to relax and take some time off the game atleast for a week and 10 days but yeah when the new year start, then I will be back on the table," said Advani.
With the postponement of the World Snooker Championship, the ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani will have to once again stop and start afresh despite this being the perfect time for him to play with a National Billiards title victory under his belt. (ANI)