Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): World and defending national champion Pankaj Advani of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board stormed into national billiards championship for men here at the SAGE University on Sunday evening routing his Bengaluru city mate, Balachandra Bhaskar in straight five frames in the first best of nine games semi final.
Pankaj was a picture of composure right from the outset as he chalked up a superb break of 148 in the very first game following it up with streamlined breaks of 98 and 50 in the second frame and then keeping a consistent focused level of concentration in the third, he again compiled a neat break of 108 to establish a lead of 3-0 games.
Bhaskar, for once finding his touch, had a semblance of a chance in the fourth game, but when within striking distance of 150 points target, he missed a narrow angle.
Bhaskar did employ the check side on his shot, only to miss the cannon by a whisker. From here, Pankaj made no mistake to snatch the game with an unfinished 55 break. Pankaj went on to seal the fate of this tie with a chanceless break of 145.
In the other semi final between the two PSPB players, Brijesh Damani and former Asian Champion, Dhruv Sitwala, the latter was leading by 3-2 games in the best of nine 150 up games match at the time of filing the report.
