Snooker: Pankaj Advani clinches 13th World Championship

Karachi: Indian ace Pankaj Advani successfully defended his World 6-Red Snooker Championships title with a commanding 6-2 victory over Yan Bingtao of China here on Wednesday.The Bangalore cueist, who claimed his 13th World Championship title, held off a strong fight back by his Chinese opponent to register a 37-21, 57(30)-0, 32-29, 0-66(66), 6-38(37), 48-0, 75(71)-0, 40(35)-28 win.[caption id="attachment_2389970" align="alignleft" width="380"] File picture of Pankaj Advani. PTI[/caption]Advani was off to a good start with an early 3-0 lead in the best of 11-final. But Bingtao made a spirited comeback by winning the next couple of frames with the help of the 66-break.Advani however, took the next two frames without allowing his opponent to score a single point, to regain the upper hand.Advani then scored a huge 71 break in the seventh frame to move one frame away from winning the title.However, in the final frame, Bingtao took a comfortable 28-5 lead before missing what proved to be his last shot of the tournament as Advani cleared the table with a 35 break.IANS