India’s Aditya Mehta and Kamal Chawla and World No 21 Stephen Lee of Britain sealed their berths in the knock out quarterfinals, while two-time Asian champion Yasin Merchant won a crucial tie to enhance his hopes in the RKG-Khar Gymkhana Snooker Masters event here on Tuesday.
Bhopal cueist Chawla overcame Dharminder Lily of Punjab 4-2 for his fourth straight win in as many ties to seal his place from Group A along with title favourite Lee. The two will clash on Wednesday to decide the group topper.
Mehta also won his fourth straight round-robin tie over Shivam Arora to qualify from Group C where World No 46 Nigel Bond of Britain and Sourav Kothari of ONGC will strive to snatch the second spot in the group.
Merchant snatched a crucial 4-3 win over national champion Manan Chandra to keep his hopes alive in Group B where World No 26 Michael Holt of Britain is also in the fray along with the formidable Indian duo.
Pankaj Advani is sitting pretty atop Group D with three wins from as many outings while Sandeep Gulati of Delhi and Shahbaaz Khan of PSPB will battle it out for the second spot.
Results (Indians unless mentioned): Group A: Kamal Chawla bt Laxman Rawat 4-3 (59-68 (58), 59-52, 73-44, 22-70, 85 (45)-0, 43-81, 63-49); Dharminder Lily bt L Rawat 4-0 (73-22, 61-26, 68-4, 56-33); Stephen Lee (Gbr) bt Harish Pahuja 4-0 (80 (60)-14, 93 (75)-3, 75-9, 105 (78)-25); K Chawla bt D Lily 4-2 (20-65, 58-22, 10-72 (47), 68-19, 64-48, 59-46).
Group B: Michael Holt (Gbr) bt Yasin Merchant 4-3 (71 (59)-14, 69 (52)-28, 47 (31)-62, 32-56, 47-59, 64-9, 61-18); Manan Chandra bt Balaji Reddy 4-2 (28-75, 38-62, 71-36, 68-33, 81-10, 100 (73)-15); M Holt bt Neeraj Kumar 4-0 (61 (50)-14, 114 (106)-14, 59-46, 66-27); Y Merchant bt M Chandra 4-3 (66 (56)-34, 13-73 (60), 67-40, 31-55, 91-5, 8-62, 64-32).
Group C: Nigel Bond (Gbr) bt Shivam Arora 4-3 (81-15, 31-61, 65-67 (42), 47-45, 29-68, 96 (49)-42, 52-18); Sourav Kothari bt S Arora 4-2 (65-25, 33-68, 69 (58)-38, 29-20, 4-67 (44), 68-66 (51)); Siddharth Parekh bt Vijay Nichani 4-1 (33-65, 88-45, 66-20, 69 (58)-44 (31), 66-59); Aditya Mehta bt S Arora 4-2 (77 (60)-0, 102 (40)-26, 66-58, 41-74, 29-60, 61 (38)-10).
Group D: Shahbaaz Khan bt Mohd Al Joker (UAE) 4-0 (70-49, 51-33, 64-30, 89 (54)-7); Shahbaaz K bt Faisal Khan 4-2 (43-82, 66-55, 10-64 (40), 72-43, 63-0, 58 (54)-1); Pankaj Advani bt Sandeep Gulati 4-2 (81-55, 87 (87)-22, 2-72, 1-89 (80), 58-12, 63-23); Faisal K bt Mohd Al Joker 4-3 (16-84, 62-29, 79 (53)-19, 34-55, 79 (65)-1, 17-51, 64-21).
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