Bangalore, Sep 10 (IANS) Pankaj Advani overwhelmed Devendra Joshi to complete a fantastic double, winning the ONGC IBSF World Billiards Championship (time format) to add to his points format title of last week here Wednesday.

Pankaj defeated Devendra Joshi 2370-2020 for his sixth world title to repeat his 2005 Malta feat where the 23-year-old had won both the point and time format .

Pankaj beat his idol Geet Sethi 6-1 to clinch the points format last week. His six world titles is more than any Indian cueist can ever boast of at such a young age.

‘I am thrilled. There is a strong appetite to win more titles. I enjoy playing both billiards and snooker. Though billiards has given me more success, I love playing snooker as well,’ Pankaj said.

Pankaj got to a good start with a huge 1274-151 lead in the first session of the six-hour long final at the Karnataka State Billiards Association.

Joshi came up with improved performance pocketing 1033 in the second round and then managing a break of 557 in the final, but his efforts came too late.

Pankaj, who was awarded the Khel Ratna in 2006, took to cue sport when he was 11 and could just about look over the top of the table,

Pankaj’s development as a player has been quite dramatic and stunning. At 13, he represented Karnataka in the senior National championship, the youngest ever to do so. With every success, he emerged as a prodigy, the likes of whom Indian cue sport had not seen before.

In 2003, he became the second youngest and only the second Indian after Om Agarwal to win the IBSF World amateur snooker crown. Earlier in the year, he had won the senior National snooker crown, the youngest to do so, at 17.

Pankaj Advani — FACT FILE

Born - Pune, July 24, 1985
World titles - IBSF amateur snooker in 2003; IBSF billiards (time and points formats) in 2005, IBSF billiards (time format) in 2007; IBSF billiards (time and points format) in 2008.
Asian titles - Asian billiards championship in 2005; Gold medal at Doha Asian Games in 2006.
Awards - Arjuna Award in 2004; Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2006.
First century breaks: Billiards - 118 at 13 years (1998 Karnataka State Ranking tournament); Snooker - 127 at 14 years (practice, 1999); 109 (1999 Junior Nationals).