Pankaj Advani is one of the best cueists India has ever produced as he won his 13th world title on Tuesday by defeating Chinese cueist Yan Bingtao 6-2 in the best-of-11 frame final in Karachi.
The Indian cueist put up an impressive performance against Chinese champion Bingato, who has earned a good name in the sport. Advani proved to be too good for the Chinese as the scores read 37-21, 57-00, 32-29, 00-66, 08-38, 48-00, 75 (71)-00 and 40-28.
Though Advani did not start the defence of world 6-Red Snooker title well as he lost his first match, the star cueist showed his class as the competition moved ahead.
Despite great cueists such as Geet Sethi, Michael Ferreira and Advani, the sport is not popular in India.
Advani has seen the game grow over the years and feels that an IPL-style league is possible in snooker or billiards as the game has become financially rewarding as well.
"It can happen and I can say after having played so long that the sport now is financially rewarding in the long run," PTI quoted Advani as saying.
"The sport is doing well in India and the 6-ball format has caught on as it is shorter in duration to conventional 15 red ball snooker and people get good entertainment."
An IPL-like snooker or billiards league can help develop the sport and make it more popular. Such leagues can produce many Pankaj Advanis and Geet Sethis.
After the huge success of the Indian Premier League, other sports such as Kabaddi, Badminton, Hockey and Football have also started similar leagues that have been received overwhelming response. So, there is no reason as to why will the cue sports league not work in India.
However, Pankaj Advani was also impressed with the Pakistani players in the tournament and even praised the neighbours for becoming a major force in Asia.
"Pakistan is now producing some very good snooker players and it has become a major hub for snooker in Asia. So it always feels good to do well here," said Advani.
