Teenage sensation from Bangalore, Pankaj Advani, will spearhead India’s challenge in the 2003 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Championship here from tomorrow. Pankaj along with Kolkata’s 18-year old Sourav Kothari and Mumbai’s 17-year-old Aditya Mehta, form the Indan contingent. The trio is accompanied by coach Manoj Kothari, Sourav’s father and himself a former World amateur billiards champion. In all, 64 players from 20 countries will be taking part in the championship being held on this small holiday town. The players have been divided into eight groups for a preliminary league. The top four from each group will advance to the knock-out round of 32. Pankaj, a semifinalist at the 2002 championship held in Riga, Latvia, appears India’s best bet for the title as he has been in fine fettle this season, while his teammates, Aditya and Sourav would be hoping to make a mark in the tournament that concludes on July 29. On Wednesday, in their opening group matches, Pankaj takes on Shannon Swain of New Zealand, Aditya meets Sascha Lippe of Germany and Sourav faces Li Yinyi of China. The entry list includes the current title holder, Ding Junhui of China, and for the first time ladies are being allowed to participate, after it was agreed to accept them into the World Under-21 Championship at the 2002 IBSF AGM held in Cairo, Egypt. The quality of snooker is expected to be very high with several players, including Pankaj, capable of winning the title. Junhui, who celebrated his 16th birthday on March 4, will of course be the front runner, having enjoyed a momentous 2002 when he won the Asian Championship, the Busan Asian Games gold medal, the World and Asian Under-21 tournaments, apart from being a semifinalist at the World Amateur Championship. Also in the fray is 15-year old Jamie Jones of Wales, who made the maximum break of 147 last year in a tournament.
