It turned out to be an all-India affair in the inaugural World Billiards Team Championship final after the two Indian teams demolished their respective opponents in the four-day event.
Top cueists from India displayed their dominance on the green baize as both the teams got past their respective opponents without losing a single frame before making a comfortable entry into the semi-final.
India A comprising Alok Kumar, Sourav Kothari, Dhruv Sitwala and Balachandra Bhaskar outplayed England A 5-1 in the last-4 encounter while India B, which has top guns like Pankaj Advani, Rupesh Shah, Ashok Shandilya and Devendra Joshi blanked Republic of Ireland 6-0.
Advani, 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 a chance of adding one more title to his incredible shelf.
However, for India A cueists it will be a first World title if they win the team event, with veterans like former Asian and billiards champion Kumar, reigning Asian billiards champion Kothari, world billards runner-up Sitwala and Asian Games bronze medallist Bhaskar devoid of a world crown.
India's other team has a bagful of world titles with nine-time champion Advani already eyeing a 10th, Shah is a two-time world billiards champion, Shandilya is also a former world billiards champion (2002-Short Format) while Joshi is a former runner-up in the World pro-Billiards.
Until last reports, India A were leading India B 2-1 in the best-of-nine frame final.
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