Hyderabad,Nov 14: The 35th edition of the IBSF (International Billiards and Snooker Federation) World Snooker championship commences at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) here on Sunday.Pankaj Advani from Karnataka will lead the Indian challenge in the 10-day event.He won the title in 2003 and is one of the favourites to regain the title this time.He is basically a billiards player and most of his international titles are in billiard barring the 2003 snooker title.
Apart from India’s Pankaj Advani the other cueists who will be hot contenders for the title are players from Thailand,Engalnd and Wales.Pankaj Advani interacting with the media said as I will be playing in front of the home crowd,I will be under a lot of pressure.First I would like to qualify for the knock-out stage from then on it will be difficult to predict who will win.Referring to the Thai players he noted that they have a good run in the recent past and they should stand good chance to win the title.In all 96 players will be vying for the prestigious title.
The 96 players have been divided into 16 groups for the preliminary group matches.India as a host country will be fielding 14 cueists in this championship.In the 96 player draw,apart from Paul Mifsud (1985,'86) of Malta,no other player has won the title twice which shows keen competition among the contestants.For the first time the women’s event was also introduced in 2003.Seven women cueists from India are in the fray for the title.In the absence of last year’s winner Reanne Evans (England) and runner-up Wendy Jans (Belgium) the women’s event looks wide open.