Indian cueist Pankaj Advani rallied to win the IBSF World Billiards Championship title here on Tuesday for a staggering 26th time, beating compatriot Sourav Kothari in the final.

Trailing 26-180 in the first hour, Advani rallied to defeat the 2018 world champion Kothari 1000–416 in a rematch of last year’s title clash in Kuala Lumpur.

Playing back-to-back matches, Kothari, who is from Calcutta, took the initial lead and was going strong but faltered on a couple of easy chances to allow Advani to recover from the deficit.

From there, it got a little scrappy with both players exchanging visits between them and a couple of 150-plus breaks by Advani helped him stretch the lead while Kothari could not fully capitalise on the chances he got.

Advani fired in a break of 214, the highest of the match, and looked unstoppable after that. Advani maintained a healthy 250-point lead for a better part of the match.

A 99 from Kothari brought the difference down to 150.

The ace from Bangalore then switched gears to extend the lead and reach the 1000-mark with an unfinished break of 199 to end the proceedings.

Describing the feeling as “unreal”, Advani said: “I have won before so I know how it feels, but to repeat it year after year is what makes all those hours of work on skill, body and mind worth it.

“Consistency is the hallmark of success and continuing to bring home world titles for the country is what drives me the most.”

Advani will get no rest as he participates the next edition of the World Billiards Championship, which is the short format, 150-up.

Kothari blamed fatigue for squandering his early lead.

“My semi-finals stretched on for almost five hours and I had to play the final with just about an hour’s break,” Kothari said.

Advani won his first world title in 2003.

The only player to win world titles in all formats of both billiards and snooker has maintained his superlative level of performance to keep India on top of the world in the 3-ball game.

PTI