Billiards News
At WPBSA 2011 World Billiards Championship, Leeds, England

Our only 3 players reached in knockout stage - Pankaj Advani, Devendra Joshi and Rupesh Shah ... Pankaj Advani defeated Devendra Joshi 1000-721 in quarters ... Rupesh Shah lost in one-sided match in quarters against David Causier, 455-1000 ... In the semis Pankaj faced defending champion Mike Russell ... Pankaj fought hard but failed to convert in the win ... Mike Russell defeated Pankaj Advani 1250-1012 to book his place in the final.

Billiards News
At 2011 IBSF World Billiards Championship, Carlow, Ireland

Point Format - Final
Mike Russell (England) bt Pankaj Advani (India) 6-3 (150(150-U)-49, 150(150-U)-00, 150(148-U)-17, 150(150-U)-00, 150(114)-10, 83-150(143), 105(97)-150(120-U), 06-150(143-U), 150(143-U)-61)

In the final Mike Russell was in his best ... He scored 4 unfinished 140+ break to take 5-0 lead in best of 11 frames final ... Pankaj tried to fightback scoring couple of unfinished 100 breaks to won next 3 frames but Mike scored another unfinished 140+ break to lift the title.

Billiards News
At 2011 IBSF World Billiards Championship, Carlow, Ireland

Point Format - Semi Finals
Pankaj Advani (India) bt Praput Chaithanasukan (Thailand) 5-4 (150(91-U)-16, 150(95)-33, 150(91)-122(80), 116-150(79), 150(108-U)-34, 06-150(91-U), 94(91)-150(104-U), 126(92)-150(143-U), 150(55)-104)
Mike Russell (England) bt Sourav Kothari (India) 5-3 150(91)-46, 94(84)-150(139), 147-150, 71(71)-150(94), 150(87,70)-67(64), 151(150)-00, 150(150)-00, 150(145)-03)

Pankaj reached in the final beating experienced Thai Praput Chaithanasukan 5-4 in closely contested semi-final ... Pankaj was leading 4-2 before Praput fought back .. He won next 2 frames but Pankaj won the final frame 150-104 to won this match ... Sourav Kothari played well against Mike Russell but current World champion proved too strong for Sourav.

Billiards News
At 2011 IBSF World Billiards Championship, Carlow, Ireland

Point Format
[SF] Pankaj Advani (India) vs Praput Chaithanasukan (Thailand)
[SF] Sourav Kothari (India) vs Mike Russell (England)

[QF] Praput Chaithanasukan (Thailand) bt Geet Sethi (India) 4-2 (134(100)-152, 150(140)-38, 47-150(75), 150(74)-53, 150-141(124), 150(82)-98(86))
[QF] Pankaj Advani (India) bt Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) 4-3 (150(121)-82, 00-151(151-U), 87-150(86-U), 150(85-U)-00, 14-150(141-U), 151(151-U)-00, 150(150-U)-04)
[QF] Mike Russell (England) bt Ashok Shandilya (India) 4-2 (150(116)-95(85), 145-150(148), 150-92, 150(145)-66, 56-150(118), 150(89)-66)
[QF] Sourav Kothari (India) bt Dhruv Sitwala (India) 4-2 (150(93)-32, 150(115)-125, 108-150, 150(85)-145(145), 110-150(121), 150(99)-40)

[PQF] Geet Sethi (India) bt Alok Kumar (India) 4-0 (150(103)-10, 150(87)-98, 150(76)-09, 150(110)-74)
[PQF] Peter Gilchrist (Singapore) bt Devendra Joshi (India) 4-0 (150(115)-114, 150-40, 153(151)-34, 157(157)-02)
[PQF] Pankaj Advani (India) bt B. Bhaskar (India) 4-0 (150-18, 150(150)-20, 150-38, 150(114)-124)
[PQF] Ashok Shandilya (India) bt Nay Thway Oo (Myanmar) 4-3 (150-60, 150-126, 76-150(91), 37-150(107), 89-150, 150(89)-107(77), 150(88)-20)
[PQF] Dhruv Sitwala (India) bt Matthew Bolton (Australia) 4-1 (150(131)-98, 95-150(71), 150(88)-71, 150(70)-35, 150(98)-106)
[PQF] Sourav Kothari (India) bt Rupesh Shah (India) 4-1 (150-45, 00-152(152-unf), 150-85, 150-83, 150(93)-53)

[R24] Geet Sethi (India) bt Thanh Binh Nguyen (Vietnam) 3-1 (150(98)-86, 150-47, 142-150(86), 150-68)
[R24] Devendra Joshi (India) bt Phil Mumford (England) 3-0 (150-63, 150(66, 67)-25, 153(151)-02)
[R24] B. Bhaskar (India) bt Aidan Murray (Ireland) 3-2 (150(121-unf)-39, 148-150, 04-150(148-unf), 150(150-unf)-00, 150(76-unf)-91)
[R24] Ashok Shandilya (India) bt Phil Martin (Ireland) 3-0 (150(85)-98, 150(60)-20, 150(91)-39)
[R24] Dhruv Sitwala (India) bt Brian Harvey (England) 3-0 (150(74-unf), 150-58, 150(73, 74-unf)-35)
[R24] Sourav Kothari (India) bt Kyaw Oo (Myanmar) 3-2 (79-150(82), 66-150, 150(120)-27, 150-125(107), 150(80, 67)-106(76))

In ongoing World Billiards Championship at Ireland, 9 Indians reached in the Round of 16 from group stage.

From that 5 Indians reached in quarter-finals ... In that Ashok Shandilya scored exciting win over Nay Thway Oo from 2-3 down ... In the quarterfinal, Geet lost in close match against Thai Praput Chaithanasukan ... Mike Russell defeated Ashok Shandilya ... In all Indians match Sourav defeated Rupesh to move into semis ... Pankaj also joined him with hard fought win from 2-3 dowm over very experienced Peter Gilchrist ... Both players produced lot many big unfinished breaks in this match.

Billiards News
At 2011 Asian Billiards and U-21 Snooker, Kish Island, Iran

Final
Alok Kumar (IND) bt Praput Chaithanasakun (THA) 6-0 (101(93)-02, 101(84)-02, 100(85)-06, 100(40)-72, 101(73)-18, 101(76*)-57)

Semi Finals
Alok Kumar (IND) bt Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 5-2 (102(67)-71(62), 101-87, 100(100)-0, 14-102(77), 102(98)-34, 00-101(83), 100(72)-13)

Quarter Finals
Alok Kumar (IND) bt Pankaj Advani (IND) 4-3
Dhruv Sitwala (IND) l Peter Gilchrist (SIN) 2-4
Geet Sethi (IND) l Praput Chaithanasakun (THA) 3-4

Alok Kumar easily defeated Thai Praput Chaithanasukan 6-0 to win the Asian Billiards title and take revenge of losing against Praput in group stage ... With this win Alok become the 1st player to achieve the rare feat of winning both the Billiards and Snooker Asian titles ... In 2004 in Jordan, Alok Kumar won the Asian Snooker title by defeating his compatriot Pankaj Advani in the finals.

In his dream run to win title Alok Kumar defeated 3 former World Champions Pankaj Advani, Singapore's Peter Gilchrist and Thailand's Praprut Chaithanasukan in the quarter final, semifinal and final respectively.

In a best of 11 games - 100 points format, Alok from the start showed great form ... On his first visit to the table he scored a break of 93 to go ahead 1-0 ... Then in next 2 games with breaks of 84 and 85 respectively he went ahead 3-0 in just 25 minutes of play ... After that Praput never recovered though he tried to fight in 4th and 6th frames but Alok kept his focus to won it without losing a frame.

Alok Kumar participated in this event with regaining Asian Billiards Champion Pankaj Advani, Dhruv Sitwala and Geet Sethi ... Pankaj qualified for knockout stage winning Group D and others qualified on second place from their groups ... Alok defeated Pankaj in well fought match in quarters ... Geet and Dhruv also failed to qualify for semis.

In u-21 Snooker Asian championship our all 3 players; Zubin Leninwala, Vipin Premi and Rovin D'Souza; failed to qualify for knockout stage.