Rediff.com
Champion cueist Pankaj Advani has won the Rajiv Gandhi Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest sporting honour.
The 21-year-old Advani, who hails from Bangalore, won the World Billiards championship in 2005 and the World Snooker title in 2003. Last year, he became the first player to win the Time and Points format in the IBSF World Billiards Championships in Malta, Spain.
Advani is currently part of the Indian contingent at the World snooker team championship, in San Jose, USA.
"It is definitely an ecstatic feeling when you get the country's highest award. I wanted it very badly," he had said before leaving for the US event.
Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Rathore won the Khel Ratna last year.