The Hindu : Sport / Billiards & Snooker : Indians cruise through

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 24, 2006

Sport

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Indians cruise through

Geet Sethi

PRESTATYN (North Wales): The IBSF World Snooker Grand Prix threw up some excellent performances including a 143 total clearance by Thailand's Supoj Sanla, who eliminated China's feared cueist Tian Pengfei 4-3 in a group G match in the last session of the opening day. The 143 total clearance came in the decider which just adds that much more character to the timely effort.

India's Pankaj Advani, Alok Kumar and Aditya Mehta all cruised through their opening encounters untroubled with Advani and Kumar in particular exhibiting impressive form.

Advani, the 2003 IBSF World champion scored another emphatic 4-0 victory over Germany's Itaro Santos on Thursday and has now won both his matches losing only one frame.

Icy winds continued relentlessly plunging the mercury levels here at the Pontins Holiday Centre but Advani seemed all warmed up from his opening stroke against his burly Egyptian opponent Wael Talat on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old won the opening frame on the black 54-42 and from then on dominated proceedings except in the third frame, which saw his opponent record a fluent break of 84.

Advani in command

Having got the opening contest out of the way, Advani seemed more in command on Thursday against Santos. He had two distinct opportunities to make a big break but rattled the black in the corner jaw on 38 in the second frame and then in the fourth was on the receiving end of a vicious `kick' whilst potting a red on 42.

However, watching his practice form and the poise on the match table, it seems highly likely that Advani could repeat his title winning victory this year as well.

Last year's national champion Alok Kumar was equally impressive against Turkey's Muhammed Leysi, recording useful efforts of 42 in the first, 41 & 38 in the second and a 46 in the third to score a convincing 4-0 victory. The dashing Aditya Mehta, who was last year's national No. 3, kicked off his campaign with a well-earned 4-2 victory against Australian champion Vinnie Calabrese. Exhibiting composure when the scores were tied at 2-2, the Mumbai-based cueist shifted gears to win the fifth and sixth frames with ease.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail