World billiards: Pankaj, Geet off to winning start

Seven-time world champion Pankaj Advani and veteran Geet Sethi along with Dhruv Sitwala secured comfortable victories over their respective rivals on the opening day of the World Billiards Championships in Leeds.

Advani defeated Austria's Martin Schmidt 874-149 in his opening fixture and then went on to win the second game against Martin Budge of Guernsey 732-183 in the Time Format.

Sethi put paid to the hopes of Jonny Evans of England 687-168 while Sitwala thrashed Ryan Mears of England 702-134 in his first game and hardly broke a sweat against compatriot Arantxa Sanchis to win 686-122 in Group C.

The only woman from India in the fray, national champion Sanchis, also lost her second game against Mears 206-368.

Another star Indian cueist, Devendra Joshi went down fighting against Michael Pearson of Australia 403-446 in his opening tie but recovered to win the next game against countrymate Jaiveer Dhingra 522-282.

For the first time, 18 cueists are participating from India under coach Subhash Agarwal.

Results of Indian players: Dhruv Sitwala bt Ryan Mears 702-134; Arun Agarwal bt Phil Mumford 540-317; Nalin Patel bt Derek O' Neill 617-89; Pankaj Advani bt Martin Schmdt 874-147; Devendra Joshi lost to Michael Pearson 403-446; Jaiveer Dhingra lost to Michael Pearson 209-500; Sourav Kothari bt Phil Davis 602-121; Siddharth Parikh bt Jonathan Bagley 403-288; Geet Sethi bt Jonathan Evans 687-168; Alok Kumar lost to Martin Goodwill 220-453; Ashok Shandilya bt Roberet Hall 429-218; Arantaxa Sanchis lost to Ryan Mears 206-368; Balachandra Bhaskar bt Rick Kendall 581-142.

Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images for DAGOC