“Why there must be a discrimination. Why are we looking at the Olympics and Asian Games as be all and end all sport, and measure our sporting excellence just based on our performances in Olympics,” he told reporters here after he was felicitated by the Karnataka Snooker and Billiards Association for winning his 13th World Championship title in Karachi. Advani, who pocketed his 13th World title after defending his World 6-Red Snooker crown, had outplayed top Chinese <g data-gr-id="18">cueist</g> Yan <g data-gr-id="19">Bingtao</g> 6-2 in the best-of-11 frame final. But Advani is concerned about the plight of cue <g data-gr-id="29">sport</g> players in the country and urged the government to look into these things and implement policies without discriminating Olympics and non-Olympics sportspersons in terms of recognising their achievements.
“I don’t know what is really happening when it comes to decision - who makes this decision, but someone really needs to look at these things seriously,” he said. Advani believes <g data-gr-id="20">tha</g> the government should realise that the cuesport players are as deserving as Olympians and <g data-gr-id="21">Asiad</g> players. “If policies are made for the development of sports I think the government realises that we (<g data-gr-id="22">cueists</g>) also achieve as much as those <g data-gr-id="24">sports persons</g> competing in Olympics and <g data-gr-id="23">Asiad</g>,” he said.
Advani also feels that the cue coaches and trainers are also not given their <g data-gr-id="14">duwe</g> for creating world champions over the years. “It is disappointing that our trainers and coaches do not get Dronacharya awards.”