Advani, Geet off to winning start

Vidya, Chitra victorious on day one

Advani, the 24-year-old National champion from Bangalore, got past Australia’s Daniel Thorp 4-0 with a high break of 71 clearance in the second frame in the men’s section, while Sethi, the eight times World billiards champion, easily beat Mostafa Aly of Egypt 3-0.

In the ladies section, India No 2 Vidya Pillay took nearly four hours to overcome Hong Kong’s So Man Yan 3-1 in her group D match that was stopped as it spilled into the afternoon session but subsequently completed on another table, and Chitra Magaimagarajan just about kept her nerves to defeat Jaique Ip of Hong Kong 3-1. Also making a winning start were Anuja Chandra who beat Shirley Smith of Australia 3-2 in group D while Neena Praveen received a walk-over as her scheduled opponent Nada Abdullah from Syria did not show up for the match. 


Results: Men: Group A: Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Daniel Thorp (Aus) 4-0.
Masters: Group A: SA Saleem (Ind) bt Prasanna Maddumage (SL) 3-1; Dene O’Kane (NZ) bt BVS Murthy (Ind) 3-0.

Group B: Geet Sethi (Ind) bt Mostafa Aly (Egy) 3-0; Simon Zammit (Mat) bt Ayyoub Alsharrah (Kuw) 3-0.

Group C: Paul Thomerson (Aus) bt Syed Habib (Ind) 3-0; Darren Morgan (Wal) bt Ali Jaafar (Fra) 3-0.

Group D: Andrey Vill (Rus) bt Arvind Savur (Ind) 3-1.

Women: Group A: Santhinee Jaisuekul (Thai) bt Suniti Damani (Ind) 3-0; Chitra Magimairaj (Ind) bt Jaique (HK) 3-1.

Group B: Kathy Howden (Aus) bt Neeta Sanghvi (Ind) 3-0; Nicha Pathom Eakmongkhon (Thai) bt Claudia Weber (Swi) 3-0; Vidya Pillai (Ind) bt So Man Yan (HK) 3-1.

Group C: Margaret Gorski (Aus) bt Jeanne Young (SA) 3-0; Yu Ching Ching (HK) bt Meenal thakur (Ind) 3-1; Neena Praveen (Ind) w/o Nada Abdullah (Syr).

Group D: Ramona Belmonte (NZ) bt Delphine Morel (Fra) 3-0; Bi-Zhuqing (Chn) bt Ngon Yee (HK) 3-0; Anuja Chandra (Ind) bt Shirley Smith (Aus) 3-2.