World Snooker: Advani through to knockout stage

Looking close to his ruthless best, the 26-year-old all but secured his passage into the knockout round after swatting aside Marcin Nitschke of Poland and Antii Silvo of Finland at the Karnataka State Billiards Association hall on the second day.

Shots flowed in perfect rhythm, the direction and execution completely top notch as Advani reduced Nitschke to a mere spectator in a 4-0 (101 (52)-1, 61-23, 100 (95)-29, 108 (108)-23) drubbing. Unlike the opening day where he took time to settle down, Advani was in top gear from the moment he hit his first shot.

A break of 52 helped him seal the opening frame in less than 15 minutes and he took about the same time to a race away to a 2-0 lead. Advani did face a brief fight back from the Pole in the third frame but the Bangalorean doused it with a brilliant break of 95. Struggling to break free with two reds that were kissing the pink, Advani successfully cannoned it on the third attempt before running away with the frame in blazing fashion. He then seemed in a hurry, conjuring a masterful 108 clearance to wrap things up in just 75 minutes before returning later in the evening to defeat Silvo 4-1 where he smashed his second century (100) break.

Veteran Yasin Merchant alternated from the ordinary to the brilliant before being let down by luck to lose 3-4 to impressive Englishman Martin O’Donnell. Erratic and struggling to string together a decent break despite being offered chances by O’Donnell early on, Merchant lost the opening two frames. Trailing 0-54 in the third frame and seemingly headed towards defeat, Merchant got an opening when O’Donnell missed a regulation red pot. Merchant then finished off the remaining seven reds and sunk the colours until the pink for a break of 66 to reduce the lead to 1-2.
Merchant then took the fourth frame before jumping to a 3-2 lead with a 65-point break in the fifth. On a 37-point break in the sixth and placed perfectly for victory, the veteran was left seething when the pink ball ricocheted off the jaw and O’Donnell capitalised with a break of 53 to bring things level at 3-3.

Merchant was once again left ruing his luck when in the decider the cue ball rebounded off the cushion before rolling into the centre left pocket while he was going steady with a break of 24. Ice cool and rock-solid, O’Donnell grabbed the opportunity with both hands, stitching an under-pressure 74-point break for a hard-fought win.
Brijesh Damani, who received a last moment lucky entry, got his campaign off to a roaring start, scoring contrasting wins over Craig Macgillivray and Antonis Poullos.

 The Results

Results: Group A: Kevin Van Hove (Bel) bt Manan Chandra (Ind) 4-2 (65-14, 71-21, 48-37, 21-77, 66 (65)-54, 70-23); Ahmed Aly Elsayed (US) bt Misja Van Vonderen (Net) 4-1 (26-78, 64-41, 61-25, 61-27, 74 (73)-1).
Group B: Omar Al Kojah (Syr) bt Bairaq Al-Urfy (Swe) 4-1 (80-49, 40-81 (80), 70-52, 55-40, 68-0); Martin O’Donnell (Eng) bt Yasin Merchant (Ind) 4-3 (73-12, 56-29, 54 (54)-66 (66), 1-77, 4-66 (65), 77 (53)-38, 80 (74)-24).
Group C: Ehsan Heydari Nezhad (Irn) bt Blkasem Dabob (Lby) 4-0 (109 (58), 131 (131)-0, 78-11, 83-5); Rodney Goggins (Ire) bt Anuj Uppal (Ind) 4-1 (80 (80)-37, 33-63, 55-11, 81 (55)-16, 75-14).
Group D: Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Marcin Nitschke (Pol) 4-0 (101 (52)-1, 61-23, 100 (95)-29, 108 (108)-23); Pascal Camenzind (Sui) bt Astutoshi  Inoue (Jpn) 4-0 (67-39, 73-19, 73-14, 70-15); Yaser Elsherbiny (Egy) bt Antti Silvo (Fin) 4-1 (61-29, 58-47, 72-37, 26-78, 57-48); P Advani bt A Silvo 4-1 (120 (100)-3, 47-67, 75-5, 65-17, 74-67 (67)).
Group E: Alok Kumar (Ind) bt Jason Williams (Can) 4-2 (42-66, 87 (53)-2, 119 (72)-0, 73-15, 20-72, 85 (84) -0); Lee Walker (Wal) bt Hisham Rashid Al Saqer (Bah) 4-0 (76 (63)-1, 99 (51)-7, 89 (89)-2, 60-44); Mark Boyle (Sco) bt Sergelen Batdelger (Mgl) 4-0 (72-21, 75 (69)-9, 70-5, 63-26).
Group F: Mohamed Isa Ebrahim Sheikh (Bah) bt Bernhard Bernhardson (Isl) 4-1 (61-28, 43-54, 69-25, 104 (51) -8, 95 (57)-37); Fung Kwok Wai (HK) bt Joe Minici (Aus) 4-1 (21-63, 66-23, 98 (51)-0, 101 (64) -14, 61-39); Lalrina Renthlei (Ind) bt Gregory Kopec (Fra) 4-3 (70-25, 55-67, 43-67, 76-53, 47-39, 1-77, 74-20).
Group G: Hossein Vafaei Ayouri (Irn) bt IH Manudev (Ind) 4-0 (72-32, 76-11, 73 (53)-42, 77 (77) -0); Saleh Mohammed (Afg) bt Vladimir Bykov (Rus) 4-0 (49-29, 141 (141) -0, 66-34, 105 (88)-14).
Group H: Mohamed Shehab (UAE) bt Yusuke Tanaka (Jpn) 4-1 (63-33, 77-30, 41-63, 85 (84)-1, 78-0).
Group J: Imran Shahzad (Pak) bt Byoung Hwa Ro (SK) 4-0 (72-2, 102 (52)-15, 98 (73)-7, 74 (73)-25).
Group H: Ali Jaafar (Fra) bt Antti Mannila (Fin) 4-3 (61-13, 60-28, 6-77, 16-61, 19-63, 59-56, 68-55); Susantha Boteju (SL) bt Pierre Jordaan (RSA) 4-1 (36-25, 30-63, 61-34, 63-50, 65 (59)-15).
Group J: Krzysztof Wrobel (Pol) bt Mark Tuite (Ire) 4-2 (56-33, 66-15, 29-63, 55 (55)-45, 58-84, 62-48).
Group K: Sergiy Isayenks (Ukr) bt Farhan Mirza (Swe) 4-2 (0-69, 76-29, 65-54, 30-67, 52-43, 45-34).
Group L: Brijesh Damani (Ind) bt Craig Macgillivray (Sco) 4-3 (79-47, 60-45, 03-116 (67), 76-10, 47-76, 50-60, 93 (87)-0); Noppon Saengkham (Tha) bt Gary Gillard (NZ) 4-1 (58-18, 77 (76)-7, 62-65, 71-19, 79-8); B Damani bt Antonis Poullos (Cyp) 4-1 (81-63 (59), 71-1, 67-22, 41-51, 61-34); C Macgillivray bt G Gillard (NZ) 4-2 (106 (69) -28, 77-21, 42-68, 78-45, 30-67, 71 (59) -21).
Group M: Vinnie Calabrese (Aus) bt Karl Heinz Beggel (Ger) 4-1 (66-26, 44-22, 92-0, 11-65, 62-44); Rais Khan Sen Zahi (Afg) bt Michael Wild (Eng) 4-0 (80-1, 69 (58)-25, 65-28, 78 (73)-40); Muhammad Asif (Pak) bt Karl Heinz Beggel (Ger) 4-0 (80 (72) -10, 110 (59)-1, 68-15, 61-58); Vinnie Calabrese (Aus) bt Rais Khan Sen Zahi (Afg) 4-2 (14-78, 71 (71)-44, 37-61, 69-53, 75-32, 95 (95)-0).
Group N: Wael Talaat (Egy) bt Andreas Ploner (Aus) 4-2 (39-73, 71 (63)-0, 48-29, 30-72, 84-1, 65-25); Brendan O’ Donoghue (Ire) bt Toh Chee Keong (Sin) 4-0 (69-9, 73-39, 64-28, 73 (50)-21); Wael Talaat (Egy) bt Toh Chee Keong (Sin) 4-0 (95-1, 75-26, 91 (66)-0, 72-28).
Group P: Hitesh Naran (SA) bt Ryan Somaratna (SL) 4-1 (66-33, 78-1, 70 (62)-14, 0-74, 77-57); Kamal Chawla (Ind) bt Joris Maas (Net) 4-1 (79-15, 67-53, 55-64, 52-47, 70-60 (60); Hitesh Naran (SA) bt Stefan Schneider (Sui) 4-0 (69 (54)-0, 76-29, 58-17, 76-32); Joris Maas (Ned) bt Ryan Somaratna (SL) 4-2 (79 (55)-32, 94 (61) -0, 82-5, 17-69, 25-59, 65-29).
Group Q: Richards Rhydian (Wal) bt Enkhjargal Enkhbaatar (Mgl) 4-3 (75 (70)-10, 23-61, 63-17, 47-58, 34-64, 70-16, 89 (68)-1); Mohamed Khairy (Egy) bt Balaji Reddy (Ind) 4-2 (38-68, 75-46, 83 (82)-0, 32-67, 74 (63)-21, 90-5); R Rhydian bt Costas Konnaris (Cyp) 4-2 (131 (58, 60)-0, 72-41, 68 (55)-21, 8-85 (65), 1-80 (50), 66-54); M Khairy bt E Enkhbaatar 4-1 (91 (58)-0, 77 (66)-5, 44-54, 94 (94)-32, 85-16).
Group R: Au Chi Wai (HK) bt Neeraj Kumar (Ind) 4-2 (6-62, 82 (56)-2, 5-83 (69), 66-30, 74 (55)-32, 121 (121)-3); Karam Fatima (Syr) bt Ajeya Prabhakar (US) 4-1 (72-25, 63-66, 55-2, 64-8, 87-32).