Dhruv Sitwala wins Asian Snooker C'ships, denies Pankaj Advani hat-trick

Dhruv Sitwala won the Asian Snooker Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as he defeated nine-time Asian champion Pankaj Advani 5-2 on Friday.

Anupama Ramachandran, on the other hand, emerged as champion in the women's category after she outperformed her opponents after finishing last in the group stages.

Anupama defeated Panchaya Channoi of Thailand 3-1 to win the Asian title.

For 51-year-old Dhruv, it was his third Asian Championships title as he denied Pankaj a chance of notching a hattrick of win.

With an incomplete break of 103 to begin the final campaign, Dhruv led 2-0 after winning the second game.

Advani levelled the score in the next two games by making a comeback into the game with two breaks of 82 and 60.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh games proved to be crucial for both players, as Dhruv emerged victorious 100-64, 101-23, and a break in the final game to take the championship 5-2.

While Pankaj settled for the runner-up finish, he got the better of Sourav Kothari in the semifinals taking all five frames and Dhruv took down Dhvaj Haria.

However, after the group stages, Kothari came to the knock-outs as the number one seed without even dropping a frame.

Both Sourav and Dhvaj settled for the third position and India went home with a clean sweep in the English Billiards section.