National champion Pankaj Advani beat second seed Saleh Mohammad of Pakistan 11-6 to win the World Snooker Championship in Jiangmen, China, on Saturday.
The 19-year-old Indian cueist turned in a sterling display after an erratic start to beat the experienced 30-year-old Pakistani in the best-of-21 frames final 35-64, 7-79, 73-10, 66-56, 46-59, 87-13, 81-43, 71-13, 0-95, 15-93, 64-36, 78-33, 43-47, 135-0, 65-46, 70-67, 63-22.
The players were level 5-5 at the end of the first session, but the Bangalore-based Advani displayed precision potting in the second period to run away with the match.
Advani, who is Indian's youngest-ever national champion, had beaten fifth seeded Brendan O'Donoghye of Ireland 8-3 in the semi-finals on Friday.
He is only the second Indian to win the prestigious crown after Om Agarwal, who beat Terry Parsons of Wales 11-7 in the 1984 final in Ireland.
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Advani lost the first two frames of the match tamely, but a break of 64 in the third saw him take the frame 73-10. The big break boosted his confidence and did well to take the fourth frame too and level the scores.
The Pakistani took the fifth frame narrowly at 59-56, but Advani raced away with the next two.
A break of 83 gave Saleh the ninth frame 95-0 before Advani took the tenth at 93-15 to end the first session on level terms.
The Indian ace was just too good in the second session. He won the first two fames in quick time, and although the Pakistani won the third narrowly at 47-43, Advani cleaned up the table for a 135-0 score in the fourth.
From then on it was the Indian all the way. Saleh looked like making a fight of the match as he rattled a 67 break in the sixth frame, but Advani replied with a 70 to take the frame 70-67 before wrapping up the match in the seventh.
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