Having displayed their individual brilliance on the green baize, the Indian cueists are now ready to deliver as a team in the inaugural IBSF World Billiards Team Championship, which commences in Glasgow tomorrow.
Pankaj Avani, who recently made the country proud again by not only winning the IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championship but also creating a unique record of winning world titles in the longer and shorter formats of both billiards and snooker, has teamed up with veteran cueists with an eye on another world title.
"After the 6-Red World Championship this is the next major I am going to participate in. So from the short format in snooker to the long one in billiards is a shift to the other end of the spectrum. But that's what I thrive on - specialising in two sports," Advani told PTI ahead of the four-day event.
The Bangalorean, who has won nine World titles of which seven are from billiards, has Rupesh Shah, Devendra Joshi and Ashok Shandiliya in his team.
Advani, 29, believes consistency and teamwork will be key to success.
"There are teams from all over the world so one can expect a really good standard. The key will be consistency from all team members. If that happens, we can hope for the best possible outcome," India's poster boy of cue sports said.
The other Indian team comprises former World snooker winner Alok Kumar, reigning Asian snooker champion Sourav Kothari, Asian Games bronze medallist (1998) Balachandra Bhaskar and two-time world billiards runner-up Dhruv Sitwala.
