The high roller in Tomasz Skalski prompted him to sink all his chips into one bet, and he finished with nothing to show for it. Skalski’s devil-may-care attitude at the table cost him a last-64 knockout match against Pankaj Advani, who played his hand at the right time to walk away with the big payout.
A compulsive shot-maker, Skalski stuck to his adventurous style and made a few audacious pots to win the first two frames. The same approach then caused him to make horrendous errors, which kept Advani in the fray at all times.
A patient Advani waited for Skalski’s strategy to come undone, and then struck hard to move into the last-32 round of the IBSF World snooker championship here. A feather-thin cut on the green in the second frame led to an electric clearance from the Belgian, while an unflustered Advani looked on.
From the third frame on, the Indian decided to deny his aggressive opponent any freebies. Skalski, eager for action, could not stop himself from going all-in, and served Advani with a few easy breaks.
Advani won the frame 92-06, and the next three went the same way. A charged-up Skalski paced around like a cat on a hot tin roof, and crumbled spectacularly to lose the encounter 49-81, 37-47, 92-06, 61-37, 72-23, 83-37.
Kamal Chawla blew a 3-0 advantage and went down to Australian Adrian Ridley 46-70, 13-51, 13-63, 67-14, 47-33, 82-46, 79-06. Chawla stayed on cruise control at first, but watched Ridley steadily erase the deficit.
In the deciding frame, Ridley executed a fine run — this despite the reds being bunched along the cushion. The 46-break was enough to send Chawla out of the tournament.
Lucky Vatnani continued his fine form, stroking a 107 in his win over Iran’s Siyavosh Mozayani. Vatnani, who struck the tournament’s highest break (133) on Wednesday, made a strong impression with another display of fine break-building here.
Important results (last-64, detailed scores only for Indians): Keen Hoo Moh (Mas) bt Kok Leong Lim (Mas) 4-2; Thor Chuanleong (Mas) bt Ang Boon Chin (Sin) 4-1; Manan Chandra (Ind) bt Muhammad Asif (Pak) 71-06, 67-41, 28-85, 70-41, 12-67, 95-00; Nick Jennings (Eng) bt Hamza Akbar (Pak) 4-1; Ryan Causton (Eng) bt S. Dilip Kumar (Ind) 69-65, 60-58, 76-25, 62-46; Boonyarit Keattikum (Tha) bt I.V. Rajeev (Ind) 80-45, 76-42, 82-09, 79-66; Laxman Rawat (Ind) bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan (Ind) 48-65, 67-60, 64-26, 43-64, 33-59, 72-16, 79-07; Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Tomasz Skalski (Bel) 49-81, 37-47, 92-06, 61-37, 72-23, 83-37; Shivam Arora (Ind) bt Michael Collumb (Sco) 46-45, 86-11, 70-45, 02-88, 71-63; Sundeep Gulati (Ind) bt Patryk Mastowski (Pol) 60-25, 123-11, 46-63, 03-54, 70-00, 68-21; Adrian Ridley (Aus) bt Kamal Chawla (Ind) 46-70, 13-51, 13-63, 67-14, 47-33, 82-46, 79-06; Zhao Xintong (Chi) bt Antonis Poullos (Cyp) 4-0; Fabio Anderson Luersen (Bra) bt Nitesh Madaan (Ind) 40-60, 115-08, 103-15, 73-10, 91-17; Lucky Vatnani (Ind) bt Siyavosh Mozayani (Irn) 3-128, 77-11, 52-74, 68-42, 94-0, 16-67, 98-12; Brijesh Damani (Ind) bt Fakhrie Gierdien (RSA) 23-69, 66-19, 65-24, 53-51; Amir Sarkhosh (Irn) bt Jason Devaney (Ire) 4-2; Matthew Bolton (Aus) bt Rahul Ajay Sachdev (Ind) 61-48, 75-24, 46-60, 94-10, 78-56; Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn (Thai) bt Lim Chun Kiat (Sin) 4-3; Varun Madan (Ind) bt Sourav Kothari (Ind) 71-14, 65-4, 59-56, 36-65, 21-64, 53-06; Soheil Vahedi (Irn) bt Rupesh Shah (Ind) 77- 41, 65-28, 48-80, 81- 45, 13-80, 63-8; Yan Bingtao (Chn) bt Mateusz Baranowski (Pol) 4-0.
