Advani enters knock-out stage

Alok, Manan through to next phase

Title favourite Advani, the 2003 champion, was on a roll as he crafted a 100 in the third and 110 clearance in the fifth to take his tally of centuries to three in the current tournament while registering his fourth consecutive win. In the process, he played the shot of the tournament to sink the yellow after clearing the last red during the 110 break.

Joining Advani in the knock-out phase was Manan Chandra who came through 4-1 against James Mifsud of Australia for his third win in four matches in Group D that Finland’s Alex Borg tops. Borg put in a break of 112 in the first frame while demolishing Faaris Kahn of South Africa 4-1.

Earlier, India’s Alok Kumar, hailing from Mandi-Gobindgarh in Punjab, continued his quiet and virtually unnoticed progress to the knock-out stage in the men’s category as he wrapped up his fourth win in as many group matches. Alok hammered Sri Lanka’s Ryan Somaratna 4-0 to confirm his berth in the round of 64 where the tournament enters the knock-out phase.

In the masters category, India’s Geet Sethi rebounded from his defeat on Tuesday night to post a fluent 3-0 win against Abdul Mohsen Khamis of Qatar aided by a half-century break.


Results: Men: Group A: Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Ali Obaidly (Qat) 4-1.
Group E: Igor Figueiredo (Bra) bt Ahmed Saif (Qat) 4-1 (43-75, 73-33, 72-1, 73-38, 75-4); Brijesh Damani (Ind) bt Andreas (Ploner (Aus) 4-0 (57-26, 50-9, 65-24, 90-8).  Group F: IH  Manudev (Ind) bt Rishabh Pandya (Ind) 4-1 (52-63, 62-35, 59-38, 72-39, 64-21).  Group G: Mohamed Al Joaker (UAE) bt Sourav Kothari (Ind) 4-2 (62-12, 91-13, 36-61, 88-0, 23-67, 68-10).  Group H: Ang Boon Chin (Sin) bt Vyacheslav (Rus) 4-0 (71-7, 69-44, 64-17, 95-11); Lucky Vatnani (Ind) bt Faisal Khan (Ind) 4-2 (37-35, 63-56, 24-71, 10-76, 69-53, 55-41).  Group J: Alok Kumar (Ind) bt Ryan Somaratna (SL) 4-0 (52-40, 74-21, 81-13, 67-26); Anas Almarzouki (Syr) bt Mekdad Murad Taki (Kuw) 4-3 (35-63, 72-35, 29-63, 51-38, 33-61, 88-17, 57-37).  Group K: Muhammed Sajjad (Pak) bt R Girish (Ind) 4-0 (67-56, 50-17, 79-9, 94-0).  Group L: Tian Pengfei (Chn) bt Chih Hua Huang (Tai) 4-0 (90(60)-8, 65-32, 50-37, 68-52).  Group N: Anthony Brabin (Cyp) Maurice Le Duc (Ned) 4-2 (60-44, 24-77, 60-46, 69-17, 43-58, 57-15)  Group P: Yu Lun Wu (Tai) bt Balaji Reddy (Ind) 4-1 (84-38, 96-17, 82-8, 28-62, 24-74); Petrick Einsle (Ger) bt Aditya Mehta (Ind) 4-0 (68-2, 98-5, 70-63, 67-8); Thor Chuan Leong (Mal) George Louca (Cyp) 4-1 (70-27, 52-16, 53-13, 31-57, 57-8).  Group Q: Kamal Chawla (Ind) bt Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) 4-0 (94-33, 76-21, 114-10, 73-27); Suleman Salam (Egy) bt Takafumi Maeda (Jpn) 4-0 (52-43, 46-28, 61-19, 63-34).  Group R: Chris Maltby (NZ) bt MS Arun (Ind) (80-35, 51-30, 36-65, 70-27, 76-8); Yuttapop Pakpoj (Tha) bt Emir Yigit (Tur) 4-0 (70-18, 57-17, 64-11, 59-46).
Women: Group A: Suniti Damani (Ind) bt Nahla Sunni (Bah) 3-0 (70-15, 45-43, 62-36); Santhinee Jaisuekul (Tha) bt Chitra Magimairaj (Ind) 3-1 (36-55, 52-27, 59-39, 61-21). Group B: Kathy Howden (Aus) bt Claudia Weber (Sui) 3-2 (55-27, 30-62, 51-45, 59-62, 49-20); Vidya Pillai (Ind) bt Neeta Sanghvi (Ind) 3-0 (57-56, 48-21, 65(31)-51).  Group C: Neena Praveen (Ind) bt Jeanne Young (SA) 3-0 (61-18, 63-9, 55-9).
Masters: Group A: Dene O'Kane (NZ) bt Prasanna Maddumage (SL) 3-0 (68-9, 96-16, 70-17).  Group B: Geet Sethi (Ind) bt Abdul Mosen Khamis (Qat) 3-0 (71-21, 78-21, 77-36).  Group C: Hitesh Naran (SA) bt Syed Habib (Ind) 3-0 (59-47, 57-43, 75-19); Darren Morgan (Wal) bt Paul Thomerson (Aus) 3-0 (63-15, 73-9, 110-9).  Group D: Noppadon Noppachorn (Tha) bt Venkatesham (Ind) 3-0 (95(73)-0, 67(43)-18, 66-45). Group F: Devendra Joshi (Ind) bt Satoshi Nakamura (Jpn) 3-0 (71-11, 67-56, 67-20).