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Billiards should imbibe something from T20: Advani

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Agencies

Posted: Sep 12, 2008 at 1611 hrs IST

New Delhi, September 12: Impressed by the success of Twenty20 cricket, IBSF World Billiards Champion Pankaj Advani feels a shorter version could also help in revolutionising cue sports.

"I have played a six-hour long final (time format). After a certain point of time it gets boring for the spectators. We have to jazz things up so that it becomes appealing to the spectators," the 23-year-old said in New Delhi on the sidelines of a seminar connecting sports and business.

"For that if a little glamour is thrown in, it wouldn't be all that bad for the game," said Advani, who earlier this week won the IBSF World Billiards title (both points and time formats) in Bangalore.

Advani, who has six world titles in cue sports, had created history becoming only the second person in the world to win both the world snooker and billiards titles in 2005.

But his achievements do not translate into the mileage that Advani or baize sport would have liked so the 2006 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award winner is all for the game to be jazzed up to draw spectators and sponsors alike.

"For that we need to market the game properly. Look what Twenty20 has done to cricket. It has broken new boundaries and I feel cue sports should follow in its footstep," he said.

However, the Advani 'wonder boy' from Bangalore feels the country should wake up and recognise individual sporting achievements.

"We should recognise the contribution of a Viswanathan Anand, Leander Paes or a Geet Sethi as well and not just concentrate on cricketing success," he said.

Having achieved a double, the youngster was hoping for a 'long break' from the game but that seems easier said than done.

"I am going to Chennai where the selections for the World Snooker Championships (to be held in Austria from October 27 to November 8) starts on Saturday. "So I don't really know when I am going to have that break," he said.

With the game having given him so much, the youngster feels it is his duty to give something in return. "I am planning to start some coaching clinics for school children. I also hope to become an ambassador and promote the sport in the country."

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