Pankaj Advani
Born	July 24, 1985 (1985-07-24) (age 24), Pune, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Professional	2003–
Highest break	136 (Snooker)

Pankaj Arjan Advani (Sindhi: पंकज आडवाणी, پنڪج آڏواڻي; Kannada: ಪಂಕಜ್ ಅಡ್ವಾಣಿ) (born 24 July 1985 in Pune) ^[1] is a World Champion in snooker and billiards from India.

Contents 1 Career 2 Titles 3 Awards and honors 4 Personal life 5 References 6 External links

[edit] 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 billiards and snooker world titles.^[2] He has been coached by Arvind Savur for almost a decade at Bangalore. Advani, who is the 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.

[edit] Titles

• 2009
  • World Professional Billiards Championship^[3]
• 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

[edit] Awards and honors

• Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, 2009 ^[4]
• Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest sporting honour, 2005-06 ^[5]
• Rajyotsava Award, Karnataka's highest civilian award, 2007. ^[6]
• 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.

[edit] Personal life

Advani studied at the Frank Anthony Public School, Bangalore. Advani is business communications student of Sri Bhagawan Mahavir Jain College, Bangalore. He has one brother, Shree, who runs his own coaching, wellness and behavioural training company to train young cricketers in achieving peak performance.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Pankaj Advani's Official Website
• Pankaj Advani's bio at BilliardsForum

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