MUNI THE BOSS

Pankaj Advani punches the air in delight after defending his Asian Games gold in Guangzhou, China yesterday. PIC/AFP

Pankaj Advani nearly dug himself into a hole before quickly coming out to clinch gold for India at the billiards event of the XVIth Asian Games here yesterday.

His mother and elder brother were 'livid' during the brief phone call he made to them immediately after his winning pot. "My family hates it when I win titles with last-minute thrillers because they are on the edge of their seats throughout. When I told my mum (Kajal) and brother (Shree) that the pressure out there was enormous, they could not agree more. It seems I just can't win a title comfortably - I have to leave it to the end.

Pressure cooker
"That's why they told me, 'you are a pressure cooker, Pankaj. You cook really well under pressure'," Advani (25) told MiD DAY of his telephone call back home, moments after he beat Myanmar's Oo Nay Thway 3-2 (33-100, 100-61, 12-101, 100-4, 100-45) in the best-of-five frames final at the Asian Games Town Gymnasium here yesterday.

An animated Advani punched the air twice more so in relief than jubilation immediately after the tense finale that swung both ways throughout the two-hour battle.

Trailing his Burmese opponent twice, the Indian, who also clinched gold in the same event four years ago in Doha, had to play out of his skin to win the deciding frame. He missed a simple red ball pot at the top pocket with the score reading 64-45 in his favour. Luckily, for Advani, nerves seemed to have got the better of Oo too as he missed the pot and the ball was back in Advani's court.

Advani didn't need a second invitation to take the gold.

The world billiards and snooker champion didn't have a particularly easy outing in the semi-finals too, not due to a tough opponent, but because of certain off-field distractions.

Distractions
"There was quite a lot of disturbance from the stands during the third frame (of the semi-final) and in a game like billiards where you require a quiet atmosphere in the arena, it can really put you off. I brought it to the attention of the referee, but the important thing is that I didn't lose my rhythm after that and won the semi-final," Advani told MiD DAY.

The win is extra-special for the 25-year-old Bangalorean because he has had a torrid year losing the world title in Pune in August and then the world professional title at Leeds recently.

"My world title loss really hurt me. It's tough giving up a world crown. Besides, it hasn't been one of my greatest years since I came off a tough national tournament too (where again, he lost his title). But this one makes up for it all," he said.

The post-match briefing summed up Advani's emotions. "Call me shameless, call me desperate, call me whatever, but I just wanted this title very badly. This is like the Olympics for me," he signed off.