Pankaj Advani pockets 15th world title

November 22, 2015

Hurghada, Nov 22: India's most successful cueist Pankaj Advani today added another feather in his cap by winning the IBSF World Snooker Championship after battling past his Chinese opponent Zhua Xintong in the final to take his world title count to 15.

pankaj

Advani, 30, once again mesmerised the green baize to prevail over the teenage sensation 8-6 in the best-of-15 final at Sunrise Crystal Bay resort here.

The victory for Bengaluru's 'Golden Boy' comes just after he clinched the IBSF Billiards crown in September. He is also the first person in history to take the short (6-Red) and the long snooker format in the same calender year.

India's poster of cuesport, who led 5-2 in the first session, looked unstoppable against his talented opponent even after the break, but was tested by the 18-year-old cueist in a match which saw top snooker at display.

Leading 6-2 after the break, Advani's march was halted by Xintong when he pulled back two frames to give the champion cueist a taste of his own medicine.

Advani held his nerve to make it 7-4, but the youngster wasn't done yet. Xintong went ballistic in the next two frames to make the multiple world champion eat humble pie and a match was on at 7-6.

Xintong drew first blood in the 14th frame, but Advani dug deep into his reservoir of experience to finish the tournament in style with a century break of 109.

This was Advani's first 15-Red Snooker title since 2003 when he won the crown in China. Though Egypt proved lucky for the champion, who had won his first 6-Red world title here last year.

Earlier, Advani had started the match by capturing the first two frames with breaks of 106 and 56 in the first and the second respectively against the 18-year-old Chinese cueist.

Xintong took the third with a break of 53 and looked in total control of the fourth when he got trapped by a deadly snooker behind the brown ball. Unable to convert the snooker, Xintong gave Advani a half chance at the top end which was immediately punished with a spectacular opening red stun pot along the top cushion. Advani thereafter took a 3-1 lead.

A deadly safety play by Advani once again put Xintong glued to his seat as India's posterboy of cue sport kept trapping the teenager inside the baulk line to get openings and went ahead by 4-1.

Xintong, who was seen to be at the receiving end for the first time in the championship, was not as smooth and controlled as he had been all through to the tournament and unexpectedly landed a couple of times in awkward positions while on a break.

However, the talent was visible as every time he came out of the situations unfolding his vast repertoire of strokes to win the sixth frame with a finely crafted break of 72 points and brought down the deficit to 2-4.

In the seventh frame, Advani, well aware of the wide range of potting and break building capability of his opponent, never got tempted and applied his extraordinary cushion skills to every time come inside the baulk line and keep Xingtong at bay.

At this juncture one could see Xingtong's restlessness as he ultimately succumbed to the game plan of Advani. Calm, composed and sharp as always, Advani made full use of the opportunity and crafted a well-controlled break of 74 points to race ahead to a 5-2 lead at the interval.

But real drama unfolded after the break as Advani's pocketed a frame to stretch the lead to 6-2 but Xingtong suddenly unleashed his killer talent to pull back two frames.

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News Network
March 22,2024

IPL.jpg

The start of the world’s most lucrative cricket tournament in India is presenting investors with another big opportunity to cash in on the sport, months after the world’s most populous nation hosted the Cricket World Cup.

The eight-week long Indian Premier League begins March 22 for its 17th season. Since its inception, the fast-paced cricket tournament has become a corporate juggernaut to rival the National Football League in the US and the English Premier League in value.

Just as October’s Cricket World Cup boosted consumption in India for months, fans are expected to flock to restaurants, pubs and food delivery platforms over the duration of the tournament. This year’s IPL also coincides with general elections that will last for six weeks starting April 19, a period when companies are expecting higher food and drink sales as people flock to rallies and other events.

“There’s going to be a lot of spending,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. “IPL, as well as the election, gives a three-month corridor with enhanced economic activity.”

Stocks in India such as McDonald’s franchise operator Westlife Foodworld Ltd. and peer Sapphire Foods India Ltd. gained ahead of the first match on Friday, as well as hotels and beverage makers. Packaged-food companies could also stand to benefit from the IPL craze, said Sachil Bobade, an analyst at investment firm Dolat Capital Market.

The IPL ecosystem was valued at $11 billion (Rs 91,721 crores) in 2023, including the value of media rights and sponsorships, according to Indian valuation consulting firm D&P Advisory.

The league is also attracting record sums of money from sponsors and broadcasters. Conglomerate Tata Group won the title sponsorship rights of the tournament in January for a record 25 billion rupees ($300 million). Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media venture secured the digital streaming rights in 2022 for five years for $2.7 billion, while Walt Disney Co. paid roughly the same for TV rights.

“There was a serious amount of bidding even this year,” said Vinit Karnik, head of entertainment, esports and sports at media agency GroupM South Asia. “I see growth in IPL in double digits year-on-year,” he adds.

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