Advani and Chandra world champs after thrilling final

In a blockbuster final, India-2, comprising Manan Chandra and Pankaj Advani, rallied from a 0-2 deficit to claim the inaugural IBSF-ACBS World Team Snooker Cup with a 3-2 win over Pakistan-1’s Mohamed Asif an d Babar Masih at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Hall yesterday.With Pakistan-1 up 2-0, Masih had just put his team in control of the final with a 30-point break in the doubles frame. But then, he missed the pot on a red and opened it up for Chandra.The 37-year-old stitched together a 39-point break and got some breathing space.“If he hadn’t given me that opening where I could come back; it gave me a lot of confidence making that 39 break,” Chandra said.Further down in the frame, Chandra’s partner, Pankaj Advani, wrapped up the frame potting the colour balls 4, 5 and 6 to keep India-2 in the game.Advani then worked like clockwork in the fourth frame, once Masih missed potting the black after being 20-0 up. Advani, who had won his last two world titles – IBSF World Billiards Championship (150-up) and IBSF World Snooker Championship – in Doha in November, put together a 37-point break, before cleaning up with a 69-point break and pushing the game into the decider.In the fifth frame, Chandra, who had won the deciding frame earlier in the semi-final against Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh and Ehsan Heydari Nezhad, put together a 22-point break to lead the frame 38-17.At 20-38, just when it looked like Asif had the chance to get going, he missed potting the pink at the top of the table. That and a couple of more misses further in the frame cost Pakistan-1 dearly as India-2 picked up the unprecedented USD15,000 prize money.Asif-Masih received USD7,000 for their runner-up effort.“For me it is my biggest achievement. I have never won a world title before,” Chandra said after the win. “It was a tough final against Pakistan, a dream final actually, old rivals.“We were 2-0 down but we managed to take it frame by frame, make small but crucial breaks, and that put pressure on them, I guess. All thanks to my partner. Both of us contributed equally in the whole tournament, and gave our best.”Advani added: “At one stage when we were down 30 points, it was looking like 3-0, I think Manan made that 39. Babar had missed a sitter, and sometimes it requires just one opportunity. It changed in the doubles frame. That’s why the doubles frame is so crucial and that changed the momentum of the game. Had it been all singles, we would have been hammered today. I am just happy that we lifted the first edition of this World Cup, and full credit to my partner, who just pulled off two amazing deciders.”He added: “Although it is a short format and you tend to play a little tactical but you still enjoy good conditions when you get them. That’s why I would like to make a mention of the organisers, the QBSF, the ACBS, the IBSF, they have done a fantastic job.”Talking about the final, former snooker world champion Asif said, “I missed some easy ones because of which it became difficult to control the game. In the last frame, he had some lead and we were at a point that I could have at least cleared his lead, but missed an easy pink. I was trying to not play a powerful shot, and trying to get to a selective position. But it so happened that the pink left its spot and got kicked a bit. It went a bit too far, and after that I couldn’t make a comeback into the game. I was mentally disturbed because of that.”Asif and Masih, the team that won the world championships in August 2017 in Hurghada, Egypt, had made a losing start to their campaign in the tournament, like their final opponents.“Overall, we played well in the tournament. It happens sometimes that strategy doesn’t work out the way you expect it to. And team events are actually very short. So if you don’t make good use of your chances, then you fall under pressure,” Asif said.For Chandra, however, losing the tournament opener was not really bad news. “We knew we had to win one match out of two to qualify. And in fact I was joking around with Pankaj that the last time I won the Asian team championship here in Doha, we had lost the first match then as well. After we lost the first match here, I had told Pankaj then itself that last time this had happened, so let’s hope it repeats again.”It did.