He is the boy wonder of Indian billiards. At 14 years of age, he has no time for parties and street games that most other Indian youngsters enjoy. Coming from a sports conscious and supporting family, Pankaj Advani made his presence felt in the National billiards championships in a big way.

A ninth standard student of Frank Anthony Public School, Pankaj Advani made the connoisseurs of the game sit up and watch when he sent former world number two and United Kingdom champion Subash B. Agarwal packing in a preliminary league match.

Pankaj played with the élan of a seasoned pro and perhaps he would be heading there in a few years to come. Former internationals and world billiards professionals of India were quick to hail the arrival of another Geet Sethi. But, this 14-year-old prodigy has his feet firmly planted on the earth.

Coached by none other than "Tornado Fats" Arvind Savur initially, Pankaj was quick to acknowledge that the victory against Subash was a cherished moment of his budding billiards career and no more. A keen follower of the game, Pankaj made it to the pre-quarterfinal knock out stage at the expense of fifth seeded Prem Prakash of Tamil Nadu.

His dream run ended there as professional and eventual finalist Devendar Joshi taught a few useful lessons in the last 16 stage. Neither over elated at his victory over Subash or overtly disappointed at his loss against Joshi, this promising youngster was back in the billiards hall to watch as many games as he could.

Pankaj, in fact, entered the tournament main draw after qualifying from the talent category "A", which is meant for players below 21 years of age. "It's a great feeling to beat a player like Subhash Agarwal. I had the confidence of beating him and that's what my coach also told me before the match. Even if I had lost, I wouldn't have minded," Pankaj told Online Bangalore much later.

"I played my best and he (Joshi) played better. I am looking forward to a good performance in the senior national snooker championship also," he said. Pankaj attributed his success as much to the effort of his coach and support from his family, particularly from his mother and brother. He has won the state junior ranking (under-21) snooker thrice and the junior ranking billiards crown once.

The four semifinalists in the senior national billiards championships had the following to say. All four are regulars in the professional circuit outside India.