Pankaj Advani advanced to the last eight stage of the IBSF World snooker championship, downing Craig Macgillivray of Scotland 5-3, at the KSBA here on Thursday. He will now play Peter Bullen of Belgium for a semifinal berth.
Earlier, Advani demolished Mark Tuite of Ireland 5-0 in the best-of-nine-frame round of 32 clash. The champion cueist gave nothing away while winning 73-24, 77-36, 61-23, 92-0, 57-43 in a match that was bereft of big breaks.
Advani managed a 55 in the second and a 65 in the fourth but made most of his visits count, pinning the Irishman to his corner.
Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh also made the quarterfinals, beating Martin O'Donnell of England. He started off well, taking the first frame 134-1 but lost his rhythm midway when O'Donnell took the third and fourth frames. The Thai, however, regained his composure, claiming the last three frames in style.
In the round of 32, Un-Nooh was in a tearing hurry against Mohammed Khairy of Egypt, winning 5-1, when most of the other tables were just into the third frame. With precision potting, the Thai started with a 99 and though Khairy pulled one back by taking the third frame, he was just a hapless spectator as Thepchaiya went about his demolition job in quick time.
Merchant loses
Despite a sterling fightback, Yasin Merchant was at the receiving end of Steve Mifsud's (Australia) brilliance while Kamal Chawla put it across fellow Indian Anuj Uppal 5-3.
The quarterfinal line-up: Advani v Bullen; Walker v Thepchaiya; Ayouri v O'Donoghue, van Hove v Alok/Chawla.
The results: Pre quarterfinals (Best of nine frames): Pankaj Advani bt Craig Macgillivray (Sco) 5-3 (86-1, 8-86, 104-0, 5-82, 54-18, 93-4, 10-66, 69-15); Peter Bullen (Bel) bt Ehsan Heydari Nezhad (Irn) 5-1 (33-55, 57-48, 79-17, 62-56, 105 -0, 66-18); Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Irn) bt Vinnie Calabrese (Aus) 5-0 (74-6, 54-38, 94-9, 102-8, 67-38); Brendon O'Donoghue (Ire) bt Omar Alkojah (Syr) 5-1( 89–5, 57-43, 15-67, 74 -60, 69-37, 81-17); Kevin van Hove (Bel) bt Steve Mifsud (Aus) 5-0 (68-18, 87-29, 69-57, 80-29, 77-41); Lee Walker (Wal) bt Imran Shezad (Pak) 5-2 (60 -12, 8-69, 96 -0, 0-81, 69-0, 67-5, 73-41); Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Tha) bt Martin O'Donnell (Eng) 5-2 (134-1, 66-22, 40-72, 7-86, 80-49, 94-16, 78-26).
Round of 32: Advani bt Mark Tuite (Ire) 5-0 (73-24, 77-36, 61-23, 92-0, 57-43); Thepchaiya (Tha) bt Mohammed Khairy (Egy) 5-1 (99-0, 77-18, 0-92, 108-40, 71-15, 91-15); Mifsud (Aus) bt Yasin Merchant 5-4 (108-44, 16-90, 90-0, 83-21, 9-127, 70-18, 7-70, 13-95, 68-1); Chawla bt Anuj Uppal 5-3 (68-24, 59-27, 25-82, 81-41, 57-46, 70-81, 50-51, 76-0); Calabrese (Aus) bt Karam Fateima (Syr) 5-0 (76-37, 72-36, 77-40, 101-8, 67-6); Macgillivray (Sco) bt Sergiy Isayenko (Ukr) 5-1 (62-55, 67-8, 18-76, 67-17, 86-1, 101-5); Bullen (Bel) bt Wael Talaat (Egy) 5-1 (103-15, 45-52, 115-0, 79-19, 71-41, 54-29); O' Donoghue (Ire) bt Wai Fung (Hkg) 5-2 (3-68, 76-1, 93-18, 6-93, 70-29, 55-46, 83-0); Shahzad (Pak) bt Mohd. Asif (Pak) 5-2 (82-39, 68-60, 70-43, 1-73, 41-68, 87-31, 53-52); Ayouri (Iran) bt Mark Boyle (Sco) 5-3 (65-37, 14-75, 16-88, 43-69, 77-19, 83-19, 52-22, 51-1).
Kevin van Hove (Bel) bt Rhydian Richards (Wal) 5-3 (79-10, 69-62, 69-73, 7-58, 44-68, 66-37, 68-2, 84-18); Ehsan Heydari Nezhad (Iran) bt Joe Minici (Aus) 5-4 (55-77, 22-95, 25-76, 77-43, 65-41, 61-22, 71-10, 31-71, 84-33); Lee Walker (Wal) bt Chi Wai Au (HKG) 5-4 (27-68, 29-100, 43-65, 53-13, 70-25, 63-82, 56-55, 70-1, 100-0); Omar Alkojah (Syr) bt Mohamed Shehab (UAE) 5-3 (37-85, 67-43, 63-60, 0-123, 52-72, 64-44, 64-19, 58-22); Martin O'Donnell (Eng) bt Saleh Mohammed (Afg) 5-4 (63-48, 62-69, 55-58, 0-78, 0-115, 56-47, 65-38, 61-32, 66-45); Alok Kumar bt Krzysztof Wrobel (Pol) 5-3 (35-67, 53-21, 67-14, 63-75, 58-55, 34-59, 77-42, 65-9).
Indians in round of 48: Brendon O Donoghue (Ire) bt Manan Chandra 4-1 (73-27, 14-67, 105-4, 83-39, 66-1); Anuj Uppal bt Rais Khan Sen Zahi (Afg) 4-1 (42-89, 69-37, 65-19, 74-1, 68-42); Alok Kumar bt Brijesh Damani 4-3 (74-36, 43-68, 11-70, 50-59, 54-11, 98-0, 68-49); Yasin Merchant bt Yaser Elsherbiny (Egp) 4-0 (82-70, 90-5, 64-39, 48-28); Joe Minici (Aus) bt I.H. Manudev 4-3 (75-36, 60-13, 8-86, 50-59, 27-70, 57-29, 55-34).
Wednesday's results:
League: Group P: Chawla bt Hitesh Naran (RSA) 4-0 (100-17, 98 -15, 56-16, 90-7). Group Q: Richards Rhydian (Wales) bt Balaji Reddy 4-0 (76-34, 70-44, 77-39, 63-38).
Group R: Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) bt Neeraj Kumar 4-2 (65-63, 77-15, 34-62, 50-73, 51-50, 70-15).
