The 36-year-old Pankaj, who had won the World and Asian snooker crown multiple times, maintained his excellent form and succeeded in winning all 12 matches (6 each in the Y-Camp and Z-Camp).

Pankaj accumulated 10,760 points (3,560 National points, 3,600 points each from Y and Z Camps) to take pole position, a media release issued here said on Monday.

National champion Aditya Mehta, who finished with 4 wins and 2 defeats, was placed second with 10,156 points (4000 Nationals, 2916 Y-Camp and 3240 Z-Camp) while in third place was Laxman Rawat (PSPB) with 9,396 points.

Both Pankaj and Aditya have qualified to represent India in the upcoming World Snooker Championship, which is likely to be held in Doha in November or December.

Pankaj asserted his dominance over India number 1 Aditya by recording a 4-1 win against the lanky Mumbai-based cueist in the concluding round Z-Camp match.

Pankaj, who had also won the previous outing 4-1, played steadily. He managed to dictate terms before going on to wrap up the match 80(63)-08, 32-70, 70-00, 86-15 and
68-49.

Pankaj had earlier quashed the challenge from Laxman Rawat by pulling through in six frames in an interesting contest.

He started with a bang, rolling in a neat 139 points break in the first frame and completed a deserving 139-00, 22-61, 84-46, 93-07, 28-74 60-31 victory.

Earlier, Aditya scrapped past Laxman by a tight 4-3 margin to snatch a crucial fifth win.