IPL style tournament can popularize billiards in India: Pankaj Advani

"In every game, people want quick and unpredictable result, and that's why 20-20 format cricket gets huge popularity all over. In the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), sports is very quick and billiards is a very popular game there," Advani  said in a press conference arranged by Bengal Billiards Association at the Bengal Rowing Club here.

Alongside Pankaj Advani, billiards players like Sourav Kothary and Bijesh Damani were also present at the press conference.

According to Advani , snooker is not a very expensive game.

"Club or association provide us all equipment, so, we do not buy the accessories," he said.

When the twelve-time World champion was asked about his motivation, he said, "You are always trying to improve. The day you get stagnant in sports, you go down."

He said Kolkata is one of his most favourite cities.

"Kolkata is a lovely city. It is called the 'City of Joy' and I played here in 1997 for the first time at the Calcutta Club," Advani said.

Advani  told regrettably that if there was seating arrangements for more people and live TV coverage during matches like as done in case of cricket and football, a huge number of people would have enjoyed billiards.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha, Image by Soumyadeep Pal)