Geet Sethi on Monday pulled off a close victory against Asian Games champion Pankaj Advani in the final round here to annex the national billiards title after nine years.
The veteran Indian handed over a 1087-923 defeat to Advani, who put up a brave face in the final clash at the 73rd Senior National Billiards championships played at the KSBA Stadium.
Both the players competed with their full strength as Sethi led 624-354 in the first session and Advani did his best to catch up at crucial junctures.
Sethi, who last won the title in 1998 in Kolkata, had breaks of 198 and 113 while Advani just had one century break of 148 in the first session.
There were no impressive breaks in the second session as both players struggled to maintain top of the table play which lessened the quality of the match.
The 45-year-old Sethi came up with an effective frames of 72, 96 and 92 while Advani fought back to give the former a run for his money.
Advani said he got his chances late in the match but a little more accuracy could have helped him clinch the title.
"I got my chances too late in the match. I was never in the game as such. I was always struggling and always playing catch-up to him. When you play catch up in billiards it's not easy to play," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"I got my chances too late in the match. I was never in the game as such. I was always struggling and always playing catch-up to him. When you play catch up in billiards it's not easy to play," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"I just felt that if I had played with a little more precision and accuracy I could've pulled it off. But I'm happy that I fought back in the second session despite being down by 300 points," said Advani, whose breaks of 103, 97 and 97 went in vain.