Pankaj Advani wins World Billiards Championship-2009

Indian ace Pankaj Advani beat defending champion Mark Russel to win the World Professional Billiards Championship-2009, he beat the defending champion 2030-1253. Advani became the second Indian to win the title in its 139th years of history, Geet Sethi was the first Indian to win the title in 1992. Earlier, Advani notched up a thrilling win over compatriot Dhruv Sitwala in the semi-final to set up the title clash. In the other semifinal, compatriot Rupesh Shah squandered a first session lead and succumbed to his elementary mistakes to go down 880-1366 against nine time-winner Russel. Geet Sethi crashed out of the World professional billiards championship in a league match. In a must-win last league match for both players, the Indian lost to compatriot and IBSF World Billiards Champion Pankaj Advani 482-818.