Young Welsh sensation Riley Powell gatecrashed Pankaj Advani’s birthday party by denying India’s green baize baron a 29th World title with a stunning come-from-behind triumph at the IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championship on Thursday evening in Bahrain.
The 16-year-old, who missed out on the two age-group (U-17 and U-21) competitions earlier in the week, handed Advani, who turned 40 on the day, a 5-4 defeat in front of a motley crowd.
The teenager had the small gathering spellbound with some amazing potting. Advani, who earlier came through a humdinger (5-4) against Aditya Mehta in the semifinals, couldn’t stop his marauding rival after the early success.
Advani kept Powell on a tight leash early on with his safety play. The Welsh boy, who likes to play an attacking game, gave the Indian plenty of chances. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Advani scored when he got the chance and resorted to safety when he lost position.
After the two players split the first two frames, the Indian, who came into the extravaganza as a wildcard entrant, came up with a flowing 73 clearance in the third frame and won the fourth on the black ball playoff to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-nine-frame final.
At that stage, it appeared Advani would wrap up the title in no time. But Powell, a demon potter, fought back in splendid style. He continued with his attacking style of play, and Advani, a three-time champion, faltered a bit to let Powell off the hook.
Earlier, in a four-hour marathon semifinal that could have gone either way, Advani’s superior safety play helped him to edge out Mehta.
Results: Final:
Riley Powell (Wal) bt Pankaj Advani (Ind) 5-4 (41-6, 10-38, 0-73 (73), 35-42, 38-15, 39-1, 42 (35) -0, 0-44, 38 (32) -9).
Semis:
Advani bt Aditya Mehta (Ind) 5-4 (0-68 (68), 50-0, 11-38, 33-22, 20-43, 38-4, 43-7, 24-33, 36-0); Powell bt Fung Kwok Wai 5-4 (40-17, 21-43, 0-36, 44-10, 18-36, 40-10, 18-30, 32-18, 41-6).
Quarters:
Mehta bt Manan Chandra (Ind) 5-2 (74 (38, 32)-0, 42-17, 2-39 (32), 48 (48) -0, 0-38, 38-8, 75 (75) -0); Advani bt Chen Qien (Chn) 5-4 (39-26, 18-55, 43-5, 65-1, 42 (41) -1, 0-70 (70), 0-59 (58), 0-68 (64), 38-14); Powell bt Paras Gupta (Ind) 5-4 (48-16, 28-40, 42 (42) -1, 64-22, 2-37, 47-13, 14-56 (33), 19-39, 41-4).
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U-21: Final: Sebastian Milewski (Pol) bt Pan Yiming (Chn) 5-0 (59-2, 88-2, 66-17, 63-11, 64-17).
Semis: Milewski bt Ahsan Ramzan (Pak) 5-2; Yiming bt Hu Jiayun (Chn) 5-2.
