Pankaj Advani

Infobox Snooker player
Name = Pankaj Advani


Caption = Pankaj holding his Gold medal
Born = birth date and age|1985|7|24
Birthplace = Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Nationality = Indian
Nickname =
Professional = 2003–
High ranking =
Current rank =
Prize money =
High break = (Snooker)136
Best finish =
Ranking wins =
Other wins =
World champ =

Pankaj Advani (Kannada:ಪಂಕಜ್ ಅಡ್ವಾಣಿ) (born 24 July 1985 in Bangalore) is a World Champion (amateur) in snooker and English billiards from India.

Career

He won his first World Championship title in 2003 IBSF World Snooker Championship in China.

After winning the IBSF World Billiards Championship in 2005 at Qawra, Malta, when he defeated fellow countryman Devendra Joshi, he became only the second cueist after Malta's Paul Mifsud to have won both the English billiards and snooker amateur world titles.Clarifyme|date=December 2007

In the 2007 World Billiards Championship, he was knocked out in the quarter-finales, 859–1074 (34.4 vs. 44.8 average), by eventual runner-up Chris Shut.Cite web
title=2007 World Professional Billiards Championship
pages="Tournaments" section
work=EABAonline
url= http://www.eaba.co.uk/tournaments/2006-07/worldProfessional2007.html
publisher=English Amateur Billiards Association
year=2007
accessdate=2007-12-01]

He has been coached by Arvind Savur for almost a decade at Bangalore.

Advani, who is the first and only player to have achieved a "grand double" of winning both the points and timed formats at the IBSF World Billiards Championships 2005, has repeated the same feat at the 2008 Championships held in Bangalore as well.

Titles

* 2008
**IBSF World Billiards Championship (both formats - timed and points)

* 2006
**Asian Games Gold Medallist - English Billiards singles

* 2005
**IBSF World Billiards Championship (both formats - timed and points)
**Asian Billiards Championship
**India Billiards Championship
**India Junior Snooker Championship
**India Junior Billiards Championship
**WSA Challenge Tour

* 2004
**WSA Challenge Tour

* 2003
**IBSF World Snooker Championship
**Indian Junior Billiards Championship
**Indian Junior Snooker Championship

* 2001
** Indian Junior Billiards Championship

* 2000
**Indian Junior Billiards Championship

* 1999
**Pot Shot All India Triangular Championship
**Pot Shot non-medallist Championship

* 1998
**Karnataka State Junior Snooker Championship

* 1997
**27th BS Sampath Memorial Handicap Snooker Championship
**T.A. Selvaraj Memorial Billiards Championship
**Karnataka Stage Junior Snooker Championship

Awards and honors

* Pankaj was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, for the year 2005–2006, on 29 August 2006. [http://pankajadvani.com/biography/achievements.html]
* Karnataka's highest civil award, the 'Rajyotsava Award' in 2007.
* Karnataka's 'Kempegowda Award" in 2007.
* The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2006.
* Vision of India's "International Indian" Award in 2005.
* Senior Sportsperson of the Year 2005
* The Sports Writers' Association of Bangalore's
* The Bangalore University ' Sportsperson of the Year, 2005
* The Hero India Sports Award (HISA) in 2004
* The Rajeev Gandhi Award in 2004
* The Arjuna Award in 2004
* The Indo-American Young Achiever's Award - 2003
* The Sports Star Sportsperson of the Year 2003.

Personal life

Advani studied at the Frank Anthony Public School, Bangalore.Advani is business communications student of Jain College, Bangalore. He has one brother who lives in Melbourne,Australia and works for SalesForce Australia as a trainer.

References

External links

* [http://www.pankajadvani.com Pankaj Advani's Official Website]
* [http://www.billiardsforum.info/pool-players/pankaj-advani.asp Panjak Avani bio at BilliardsForum]
* [http://billiardsforum.blogspot.com/2006/10/pankaj-advani-leads-ibsf-snooker.html IBSF Snooker Challenge] — article on Advani's IBSF 2006 WinRs|date=December 2007