Happy with my safety play: Mehta

Having booked his berth into the pre-quarterfinals of the Indian Open World Ranking snooker tournament in superb fashion here on Wednesday, Aditya Mehta was thrilled about his safety play.

“I’m very happy with my safety play today,” said a delighted Mehta after his 4-1 round-of-32 win over Hammad Miah. “After I finished my game I went and checked my statistics and it said 100 per cent safety play.

“In the first frame, I gave him an opening and he cracked a 97 to open up a 1-0 lead. I quickly knew that he could be dangerous and tried hard not to present him any opportunities. In the end, I think I didn’t gift him anything generously and I’m very happy about my performance.”

Although Mehta adopted a safety first approach, he was not scared to open up when an opportunity arose. “I didn’t want to get into a negative frame of mind. When you get too negative, you may not win.

“I just didn’t want to make any more mistakes. I kind of forced him into making the mistakes and when he did, I didn’t allow the opportunity to go by. I just cashed in on it.”

After being handed a punishing lung-opener against Peter Ebdon, Mehta now faces a herculean challenge against two-time world champion Mark Williams in his last-16 clash. “These are the sort of matches fans are interested in. I’m going to be pumped up and the crowd will be pumped as well.

“I can’t wait for the match and I’m really excited to meet Williams. I hope to create another upset, like I did against Ebdon on the opening night,” concluded Mehta.