<p>Seven-time world champion Pankaj Advani and veteran Geet Sethi along with Dhruv Sitwala secured comfortable victories over their respective rivals on the opening day of the World Billiards Championships here.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Advani defeated Austria's Martin Schmidt 874-149 in his opening fixture and then went on to win the second game against Martin Budge of Guernsey 732-183 in the Time Format. <br />Another Indian Balachandra Bhaskar started off with a 581-142.win over Rick Kendall of Canada.<br /><br />Sethi put paid to the hopes of Jonny Evans of England 687-168 while Sitwala thrashed Ryan Mears of England 702-134 in his first game and hardly broke a sweat against compatriot Arantxa Sanchis to win 686-122 in Group C. <br /><br />Devendra Joshi went down fighting to Michael Pearson of Australia 403-446 in his opening tie but recovered to win the next game against compatriot Jaiveer Dhingra 522-282.<br /><br />Results of Indian players: Dhruv Sitwala bt Ryan Mears 702-134; Arun Agarwal bt Phil Mumford 540-317; Nalin Patel bt Derek O' Neill 617-89; Pankaj Advani bt Martin Schmdt 874-147; Devendra Joshi lt to Michael Pearson 403-446; Jaiveer Dhingra lt to Michael Pearson 209-500; Sourav Kothari bt Phil Davis 602-121; Siddharth Parikh bt Jonathan Bagley 403-288; Geet Sethi bt Jonathan Evans 687-168; Alok Kumar lt to Martin Goodwill 220-453; Ashok Shandilya bt Roberet Hall 429-218; Arantaxa Sanchis lt to Ryan Mears 206-368; Balachandra Bhaskar bt Rick Kendall 581-142.</p>
<p>Seven-time world champion Pankaj Advani and veteran Geet Sethi along with Dhruv Sitwala secured comfortable victories over their respective rivals on the opening day of the World Billiards Championships here.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Advani defeated Austria's Martin Schmidt 874-149 in his opening fixture and then went on to win the second game against Martin Budge of Guernsey 732-183 in the Time Format. <br />Another Indian Balachandra Bhaskar started off with a 581-142.win over Rick Kendall of Canada.<br /><br />Sethi put paid to the hopes of Jonny Evans of England 687-168 while Sitwala thrashed Ryan Mears of England 702-134 in his first game and hardly broke a sweat against compatriot Arantxa Sanchis to win 686-122 in Group C. <br /><br />Devendra Joshi went down fighting to Michael Pearson of Australia 403-446 in his opening tie but recovered to win the next game against compatriot Jaiveer Dhingra 522-282.<br /><br />Results of Indian players: Dhruv Sitwala bt Ryan Mears 702-134; Arun Agarwal bt Phil Mumford 540-317; Nalin Patel bt Derek O' Neill 617-89; Pankaj Advani bt Martin Schmdt 874-147; Devendra Joshi lt to Michael Pearson 403-446; Jaiveer Dhingra lt to Michael Pearson 209-500; Sourav Kothari bt Phil Davis 602-121; Siddharth Parikh bt Jonathan Bagley 403-288; Geet Sethi bt Jonathan Evans 687-168; Alok Kumar lt to Martin Goodwill 220-453; Ashok Shandilya bt Roberet Hall 429-218; Arantaxa Sanchis lt to Ryan Mears 206-368; Balachandra Bhaskar bt Rick Kendall 581-142.</p>
