Pankaj Advani, also known as Pankaj Arjan Advani, is an Indian professional Billiards player and former snooker player. His excellent gaming skills have earned him several esteemed awards like Padma Shri, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award in the years 2009, 2006 and 2004 respectively. He is credited for making a hat-trick of hat-tricks in English billiards by winning, in three different years, the World, Asian, and Indian National Championship titles simultaneously. In the year 2012, he became snooker professional and the 2012-2013 season marked to be his first season. He is the first world champion of India in 6-red snooker and also became the only player ever to hold professional world titles in both the long and short formats of snooker. He is the 16th time winner of World Billiard and Snooker Championship Title.

Early Life of Pankaj Advani
Pankaj Advani was born in Pune on 24th July 1985. His childhood was spent in Kuwait after which he moved to Bengaluru. He did his schooling from Frank Anthony Public School in Bengaluru and completed his graduation from Mahaveer Jain College with a degree in Commerce. He got trained in snooker from Arvind Savur, the former national Snooker champion. Pankaj Advani was introduced to the world of snooker by his elder brother Dr. Shree Advani who himself is a noted Sport and Performance Psychologist. His inclination for the sport was noticed at the age of 10 by Arvind Savur. At the age of 12 Pankaj won his first title and proceeded by setting a number of state and national records. He bagged the first Indian Junior Billiards Championship title in 2000 and won it again in 2001 and 2003. He became the youngest National Snooker Champion by winning the India Junior Snooker Championship in 2003.

Billiards Career of Pankaj Advani
Pankaj Advani debuted at the international arena with the Asian Billiards Championship in 2002, in Bengaluru, finishing as a finalist. After winning the amateur World Snooker Champion title in 2003, he went on to win the IBSF World Billiards Championship in 2005 and earned the credit of being the first to achieve a grand double by winning both the time and point formats. He also has been the only Indian who has won the amateur world title in both billiards and snooker. Pankaj Advani is the youngest person who created a record of winning all the world titles in English billiards for 8 times. Till date he is accredited as the only person who, in a single season, has won all five national, regional and world billiards tournaments including Indian Junior National Championship and Senior National Championship, the Asian Billiards Championship, and both the World Billiards Championship (point format) and World Billiards Championship (time format). In 2009 he won the WPBSA billiards title and is the first person in the world who won the trio of the WPBSA World Billiards Champion pro title, the IBSM World Snooker Champion amateur title and the IBSF World Billiards Champion amateur title. Pankaj Advani became the first player to win 5 Asian Billiards Champion titles in 2012.

Snooker Career of Pankaj Advani
Pankaj Advani marked his victory in the international arena by winning the IBSF World Snooker Championship in 2003. At the age of 18 he was the youngest Indian to win the title which marked his first world title. After a decade he won another world title at the IBSF World 6-Red World Snooker Championship. At the minor ranking European Tour Event 1 he reached the semi finals by defeating the four-time world champion John Higgins. In the Players Tour Championship events, Advani partook in eight of them and was ranked 40th on the Order of Merit.

Career in 2013 Welsh Open
He was credited as the first Indian player to reach the quarter-final stage of a ranking event at the 2013 Welsh Open, marking his triumph subsequently. He finished his first year on the main snooker tour with a world ranking of 74. The 2013- 2014 season witnessed the introduction of a ranking event in India and Pankaj Advani qualified it successfully.

Career in World Open
Advani achieved his best run in a ranking event at the World Open. This successful season of Pankaj Advani got him within the top 64 in the world rankings and for the first time he got placed 56th.

Achievements of Pankaj Advani