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.
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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.
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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.