Published: August 13, 2026 at 7:55 pm
While Indian cueists fell short on Thursday, unheralded Tobias Bongers of Germany provided the spark in the $400,000 Apex Sports 3rd WPA Heyball World Championships. The German stunned reigning champion Gareth Potts of Britain in the men’s second round at the Rajan Khinvasara Billiards and Snooker Academy, housed in the Jairaj Sports & Convention Centre in Pune on Thursday.
Bongers, 31, a runner-up at the Junior World 9-ball Pool Championship in 2012, made the most of Potts’ largesse to score a worthy 6-5 victory. With the match poised on a knife’s edge at 5-5, Potts made an elementary blunder in the 11th rack to allow his German rival a free run.
Amee, Damani impress as Indians have a mixed opening day, stars have it easy
After Bongers went in-off following his break, Potts inadvertently tried to pot behind the baulk line (the rule doesn’t permit it when it is off a break). He realised his foolish mistake as soon as the referee called a foul. Bongers then came up with a gritty clearance to advance to the third round.
India’s Amee Kamani also could have made the third round but lost in a shootout (2-3) to Yu Hsuan Fan of Chinese Taipei after the scores were tied 5-5 in regulation time (a 100-minute affair). Like Potts, the Indian player has a chance to come through the losers’ bracket (read as repechage).
Keerthana Pandian is still in the fray in the winners’ bracket
Other Indians in action in the winners’ bracket also lost. Shruthi L, who stunned Vidya Pillai in the first round, lost to Australia’s Lyndall Vine 4-6. In the men’s section, Brijesh Damani, Pushpendeer Singh, Sean Davis and Himanshu Jain also lost in the second round.
Varshaa Sanjeev, Keerthan Pandian and Neena Praveen in the women’s section and Paras Gupta in the men’s are still in the fray in the winners’ bracket.
Advani stays in the hunt
Earlier, forced into the repechage after his opening-round loss, ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani stayed in the hunt for a place in the knockout pre-quarters with a comfortable 7-3 win over Michal Turkowski of Poland.
The 28-time World champion in snooker and billiards was dominant from the beginning. Although he had a few dry breaks (the opening shot), he more than made up for that with his superior potting and safety skills.
Striking the ball well and playing a percentage game, Advani had his rival in trouble for the most part of the match before closing out a comfortable victory. He next meets Lee Stephens of Britain.
Meanwhile, Shivam Arora, who is currently busy organising the highest prize money cue sports event in the country, found his rhythm and range on Wednesday. The highest-ranked Indian in the draw outclassed fellow Indian Abhinav Dhiman 7-0 to keep his own tournament hopes alive.
In the women’s section, four Indians – Natasha Chethan, Vidya Pillai, Anupama Ramachandran and Gianna Rego – kept their hopes alive of advancing to the knockout rounds.
Young Natasha, the bronze medallist at the Junior Worlds two months ago, outclassed Australia’s Leanne Haas 6-1. Gianna Rego was equally emphatic in her 6-1 demolition of Robyn Nikiforos of Zimbabwe.
Varshaa Sanjeev is also in the fray in the winners’ bracket
Anupama, who suffered a heartbreaking shootout defeat to fourth seed April Larson late on Wednesday night, and Vidya scored hard-fought wins over Jiya Sehgal and Tamami Okuda respectively.
Select results (Indians unless mentioned):
Men (Round 2): Tobias Bongers (Ger) beat Gareth Potts (GBR) 6-5; Lee Po-Hsien (Tpe) beat Pushpender Singh 7-3; Karol Skowerski (Pol) beat Sean Davis 7-1; Miquel Silva (Por) beat Brijesh Damani 7-2; Jordan Shepherd (GBR) beat Himanshu Jain 7-3.
Losers’ bracket (round 1): Pankaj Advani beat Michal Turkowski (Pol) 7-3; Kevin Zarekani (Swe) beat Aarav Sancheti 7-5; Divya Sharma beat Ayoub Bakhtaoui (Mar) 6-5; Gumede Senzo (RSA) beat Sundeep Gulati 6-5; Laxman Rawat beat Ranveer Duggal 6-3; Shivam Arora beat Abhinav Dhiman 7-0; Kamal Chawla beat Uzair Khan 7-1.
Women (Round 2): Kelly Fisher (GBR) beat Hsin-Ju Ho (Tpe) 6-0; Yu Hsuan Fan (Tpe) beat Amee Kamani 5-5 (3-2 shootout); Rebecca Kenna (GBR) beat Byambasuren Sergelenbaatar (Mgl) 6-1; Ganbat Gan-Orkhon (Mgl) beat April Larson (US) 3-3 (shootout); Lyndall Vine (Aus) beat Shruthi L 6-4.
Round 1: April beat Anupama Ramachandran 5-5 (2-0 shootout); Keerthana Pandian beat Elise Qiu (Fra) 6-2; Varshaa Sanjeev beat Helene Krogsgaard Mikkelsen (Den) 6-1.
Losers’ bracket (round 1): Gianna Rego beat Robyn Nikiforos (Zim) 6-1; Anupama beat Jiya Sehgal 5-3; Lilly Meldrum (Aus) beat C Padmakshe 5-2; Vidya Pillai beat Tamami Okuda (Jpn) 4-3; Natasha Chethan beat Leanne Haas (Aus) 6-1.
