Kolkata, Sourav Kothari says he is still battling a lot of demons after the loss of his father, but a strange numbness also helped him cope with pressure en route to back-to-back World titles.
Kothari defeated Indian ace Pankaj Advani 1133-477 to win the IBSF World Billiards Championship in Carlow, Ireland on Tuesday, producing a dominant performance that included a 485 break lasting one hour and five minutes of uninterrupted play, followed by runs of 121, 90, 241 and an unfinished 155.
The 41-year-old's triumph came less than four months after the death of his father and mentor Manoj Kothari.
'Wins and losses don't matter to me because something so big has happened in my life that everything else has diminished in value,' Kothari told reporters in a virtual interaction facilitated by SAI.
'When you don't give too much importance, it doesn't cause pressure. Our game is about how you handle pressure and because I am so numb, I feel I dealt with it much better.'
He also pushed for cue sports' inclusion in the centenary edition of the Commonwealth Games slated in Ahmedabad in 2030 and stressed the need for stronger grassroots infrastructure to tap growing interest.
