Kamal Chawla and Pankaj Advani remained the only Indians unbeaten going into the knock-out stage of the IBSF World snooker championship. At the KSBA here on Wednesday, Chawla and Advani cruised along to their third and fourth wins in their respective groups. While Pankaj tops Group D, the winner of Group P match between Chawla and Hitesh Naran of South Africa will top the group.
The top three from each of the 16 groups qualify for the knock-out with the group toppers getting a direct seeding into the round of 32. The others will fight it out for the other 16 spots. Barring Balaji Reddy, Neeraj Kumar and Lalrina Renthlei, the other eight Indians are all through to the round of 48.
Kamal in his own words had a patchy show against Stefan Schneider of Switzerland before winning 4-1. “After going 2-0 up there was a lapse in concentration and consistency. Even though I came back strongly after losing the third, with a 127 break, I did not feel as fluent as I was yesterday.” Incidentally the 31 year old was the only Indian to advance to the quarterfinals at the last Worlds in Hyderabad.
Advani sailed to the top of the group with a 4-1 win over Pascal Camenzind of Switzerland.
Merchant, Balaji falter
Yasin Merchant, twice in arrears, did well to catch up with Omar Alkojah of Syria at 3-3. In the decider, he missed a ‘red' to the centre pocket and Omar gleefully accepted the offer to win the frame and match.
Balaji too floundered after a good recovery to level frame scores at 3-all. In the decider against Cypriot Costas Konnaris, Balaji opened up the game only to see Costass clearing up the table. A win could have seen wild card Balaji through to the next round.
The results: (Indians unless mentioned):
Group A: Manan Chandra bt Misja Van Vonderen (Ned) 4-0 (71-1, 71-31, 122 -0, 83-31); Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Tha) bt Kevin Van Hove (Bel) 4-2 (54-40, 101-25, 21-70, 76-36, 13-64, 100-32); Un-Nooh bt Manan 4-1 (54-64, 67-33, 50-41, 82-29, 133-1); Van Hove bt Ahmed Aly Elsayed (USA) 4-1 (72-40, 64-13, 60-61, 77-21, 63-34).
Group B: Martin O'Donnell (Eng) bt Bairaq Al-Urfy (Swe) 4-0 (68-14, 85-39, 115- 0, 65-22); Omar Alkojah (Syr) bt Khaled Elbakosh (Lib) 4-0 (79-10, 59-35, 89 -23, 79-57); Al-Urfy bt Elbakosh 4-0 (54-52, 80-11, 77-0, 55-17); Alkojah (Syr) bt Yasin Merchant 4-3 (49-63, 70-38, 70-57, 76-36, 9-97, 29-97, 62-14).
Group C: Ehsan Heydari Nezhad (Iri) bt Anuj Uppal 4-1 (17-66, 83 -24, 53-44, 70-28, 83-29); Andrei Vill (Rus) bt Blkasem Dabob (Lib) 4-1 (37-68, 56-6, 86 -1, 60-30, 50-41); Nezhad bt Vill 4-0 (86-0, 86-12, 73-1, 89 -12); Rodney Goggins (Ire) bt Dabob 4-0 (71-27, 73-0, 70-28, 113-8).
Group D: Marcin Nitschke (Pol) bt Astutoshi Inoue (Jpn) 4-0 (60-16, 82-5, 63-21, 81-26); Pankaj Advani bt Antti Silvo (Fin) 4-1 (120-3, 47-67, 75-5, 65-17, 74-67); Yaser Elsherbiny (Egy) bt Pascal Camenzind (Sui) 4-0 (54-44, 66-8, 70-30, 50-45); Advani bt Camenzind 4-1 (103-0, 29-72, 102-0, 79-20, 79-8).
Group E: Alok Kumar bt Hisham Rashid Al Saqer (Bah) 4-1 (66-3, 115-8, 62-71, 78-9, 88-18); Jason Williams (Can) bt Mark Boyle (Sco) 4-2 (2-85, 71-18, 9-87, 85-24, 66-33, 62-50); Lee Walker (Wal) bt Sergelen Batdelger (Mgl) 4-0 (61-53, 68-12, 132-1, 112-10); Boyle bt Alok Kumar 4-1 (14-82 , 100-22, 69-33, 47-7, 57-41).
Group F: Gregory Kopec (Fra) w/o Bernhard Bernhardsson (Isl); Joe Minici (Aus) bt Lalrina Renthlei 4-2 (59-61, 105 -8, 64 -24, 95 -8, 53-65, 115 -16); Fung Kwok Wai (HK) bt Mohamed Isa Ebrahim Shaikh (Bah) 4-0 (62-22, 61 -1, 71-61, 105 -0).
Group G: Saleh Mohammed (Afg) bt I.H. Manudev 4-2 (73 -0, 33-65, 66-18, 83-4, 0-87, 69-58); Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Irn) bt Alexander Gauss (Aut) 4-0 (69-14, 75 -41, 77 -33, 120 -15).
Group H: Susantha Boteju (SL) bt Ali Jaafar (Fra) 4-2 (73-33, 71-40, 54-62, 77 -11, 25-64, 54-20); Antti Mannila (Fin) bt Yusuke Tanaka (Jpn) 4-1 (62-29, 73-13, 35-70, 63-54, 74-14); Mohamed Shehab (UAE) bt Pierre Jordaan (RSA) 4-1 (32-74, 66 -33, 75 -18, 77-26, 73-54).
Group J: Krzysztof Wrobel (Pol) bt Byong Hwa Ro (Kor) 4-0 (91-10, 54-3, 57-28, 77-0); Imran Shahzad (Pak) bt Arjun Lavingia (Tnz) 4-0 (77-19, 72-6, 85 -0, 65-7).
Group K: Farhan Mirza (Swe) bt Mohd. Al Joaker (UAE) 4-2 (86-19, 8-89, 52-69, 91-26, 62-12, 81-44); Steve Mifsud (Aus) bt Sergiy Isayenko (Ukr) 4-0 (1-0, 80 -1, 61-17, 67 -60).
Group L: Brijesh Damani bt Gary Gillard (NZ) 4-0 (55-11, 104-16, 85-14, 65-37); Noppon Saengkham (Tha) bt Antonis Poullos (Cyp) 4-1 (109-8, 140 -0, 45-73, 94 -27, 75-41).
Group M: Rais Khan Sen Zahi (Afg) bt Karl Heinz Beggel (Ger) 4-2 (57-34, 51-64, 55-69, 74-45, 59-7, 63 -12); Muhammad Asif (Pak) bt Michael Wild (Eng) 4-2 (91-28, 26-70, 0-95, 65-45, 71-9, 118 -9).
Group N: Andreas Ploner (Aut) bt Toh Chee Keong (Sin) 4-1 (67-30, 27-61, 55-23, 66-37, 60-17).
Group P: Hitesh Naran (RSA) bt Joris Maas (Ned) 4-0 (50-42, 74-52, 50-26, 72-24); Kamal Chawla bt Stefan Schneider (Sui) 4-1 (76-22, 56-18, 43-69, 135-12, 76-35).
Group Q: Richards Rhydian (Wal) bt Mohamed Khairy (Egp) 4-1 (139-0, 51-67, 84-26, 88-2, 82-9); Costas Konnaris (Cyp) bt Balaji Reddy 4-3 (75-43, 48-54, 69-15, 69-41, 39-64, 46-56, 86 -0).
Group R: Peter Bullen (Bel) bt Neeraj Kumar 4-1 (82-41, 29-64, 80-45, 85-1, 78-10); Au Chi Wai (HK) bt Karam Fatima (Syr) 4-2 (39-63, 91-37, 36-72, 60-40, 86-24, 70-31); Fateima bt Neeraj Kumar 4-2 (65-35, 103-7, 39-57, 44-79, 58-17, 71-10); Bullen bt Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) 4-0 (55-47, 87-16, 67-7, 80-51).
