The world’s youngest billiards champion, Pankaj Advani, finally decided to take a break from his game, recently, after a long time. But, the hard work and time he’s spent before that is evident, as he is one of the winners of the Padma Shri awards. “It took my breath away,” he says. “I’m happy for my parents and my family. I finally got recognition from my own land, my own people. I hope it acts as a catalyst to fuel the growth of cue sports in the country. It is a rare honour to receive this prestigious award at the young age of 23.”

And, as for that break, Pankaj was chilling out with friends and Indian cricket team skipper M S Dhoni at Coorg recently. “It was a blast ... we had so much fun for three days. We were staying at Robin Uttappa’s house there, as Robin’s a good friend of Dhoni. We were ten close friends who just wanted to chill out.” He adds, “This was my first interaction with Dhoni and I found him to be a really nice person.”

So, did they trade some anecdotes about their respective sports? Pankaj laughs, “No, not at all! It’s not like when two sportspersons meet, they only talk about sport. In fact, we actually avoided that topic altogether.”

And, Pankaj’s new ambition is quite far out of his usual arena too. He says, “I’d love to get an opportunity to walk the ramp someday. A lot of fashion shows these days boast of a sportsperson or a Bollywood star. It looks really good and I’m sure it gives one a great high.”

So, is he fashion conscious as a rule? Pankaj says, “Not really, I don’t follow trends much, but I watch what I wear. Comfort is the priority.” He adds that he’d like to bring some glam to his sport. “It’s sad that our sport has a very formal dress code - a waistcoat, a formal shirt and a bow tie - it’s so boring. Sports in general is getting more glamorous, so the dress code for billiards needs to be jazzed up a bit.”