Reigning world champion Pankaj Advani’s medal hopes in the ongoing third Asian Indoor Games went up in smoke after he crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals of the 6-Red Snooker discipline here today.
Advani defeated Japan’s Shuji Hase 49-25 42-1 37-2 43-12 30-43 45-0 in the first encounter of the day, but failed to carry on the momentum against local favourite Quan Do Hoang in the next game, losing 70-0 36-2 4-42 5-37 36-28 0-49 1-41 16-35.
However, Delhi boy Manan Chandra came agonisingly close to a medal but his gutsy potting and excellent cushion work was not enough to prevail over Chinese Taipei’s Yu Lun Wu in the bronze medal play-off game.
Chandra lost 42-14 28-36 22-42 2-47 4-56 0-70 at the hands of Wu to finish fourth in the discipline.
Chandra was defeated by China’s Guodong Xiao 36-9 59-36 40-12 44-22 4-43 4-47 7-25 19-37 0-49 in the semifinals, Xiao went on to win the gold medal in the 6-Red snooker discipline, beating compatriot Wenbo Liang 6-37 0-72 36-28 38-0 45-1 54-0 49-0 in the final.
In the men singles of 9 ball pool, India’s Rafat Habib first defeated Iraq’s Ali Saberi Al-Maliki 9-6 but lost his second game 6-9 against Hong Kong’s Chen Man Lee.
Another Indian in the fray Alok Kumar lost to Singapore’s Cheng Keng Kwang 5-9.
In the 3-Cushion carom men singles discipline, India’s lone challenge Vijay Goel suffered a first round exit as he lost to Vietnam’s Anh Vu Duong 11-40.
Meanwhile, in the 6-Red snooker women’s singles category, India’s challenge ended in the round-robin stage with Chitra Magimairaj and Vidya Pillai losing their respective matches.
While Pillai lost to China’s Bi Jhuqing 14-49 13-31 43-23 9-44 21-35, Magimairaj was shown the door by another cueist from Chian, Chin Siming Chen 40-4 5-43 48-8 27-9 0-37 1-38 0-52.
