Advani, Chawla, Kothari enter knockout

Leading contenders Pankaj Advani, Kamal Chawla and Sourav Kothari maintained their unbeaten runs to storm into the knockout round while the Indian women’s contingent too produced sparkling displays at the Seaways IBSF World Snooker Championship here on Sunday.

Advani, seemingly irritated by pigeons flying across the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, vented his fury on Thadeu Giannattasio Nobres, beating the Brazilian 4-0 (77-0, 65-60, 102 (75) -15, 72-19) to book his last-64 ticket.

Chawla, enjoying his first rest day on Sunday, confirmed his berth into the knock-outs after defeating the dangerous Matthew Bolton of Australia 4-1 (19-59, 56-24, 93 (66) -60, 15-69, 69 (63) -23) the previous night while Kothari showed his new-found confidence with a hard-fought 4-1 (59-42, 43-71, 70-29, 70-25, 76 (76)-1) defeat of Singapore’s Lim Chun Kiat.

Fast-rising Amee Kamani and dark horse Chitra Magimairaj also matched up to their male counterparts, registering commanding victories to stay unbeaten and advance to the last-24.

Chitra, possessing plenty of talent but known to choke at the big stage, was hunger personified as she crushed Hong Kong’s Ka Kai Wan 3-1 (32-67, 56-30, 65-64, 52-14) to top her group with five wins from as many matches and stay on course to clinch a top-8 seeding for the knock-outs.

Amee displayed streaks of brilliance in her 3-1 (49-57, 77-45, 46-33, 61-26) win over Siraphat Chitchomnart of Thailand while reigning national champion Vidya Pillai, following a marathon 3-2 tussle against Nicola Illse Rossouw on Saturday, was back to her best on Sunday, easing past Sue Martin of Australia 3-0 (49-40, 68-23, 62-24) for her fourth straight win.

Thailand, however, had plenty to cheer as well when 20-year-old Waratthanun Sukritthanes provided one of the shocks of tournament, stunning two-time defending champion and favourite Wendy Jens 3-0 (82-27, 62-6, 39-8).

Kothari, who had been busy with billiards over the last few months before switching to snooker just about 10 days ago, faced one of his toughest encounters of the tournament so far.

Renowned for his safety play on the circuit, Lim gave Kothari a major workout with his tactical brilliance. But the 30-year-old Kolkatan lived up to the challenge, showing admirable patience to sweat it out in a grueling encounter.

Both players split the opening two frames where each pushed the other hard with their tactical nous but Kothari discovered his touch over the next three frames, uncorking fine breaks from difficult positions to survive the test.

Results: Men: Group A: Arora bt Alan Whitfield (Can) 4-0 (82-17, 61-26, 51-47, 70-18). Group C: Madan bt Hatem Yaseen (Egy) 4-0 (63-50, 110 (110) -0, 70-19, 80-18). Group H: Keen Hoo Moh (Mas) bt Paul Schopf (Aut) 4-2; Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Thadeu Giannattasio Nobres (Bra) 4-0 (77-0, 65-60, 102 (75) -15, 72-19); Lucky Vatnani (Ind) bt Mike Toth (Sui) 4-0 (60-10, 60-12, 99-8, 63-9). Group J: Lee Chun Wai (HK) bt Michael Judge (Ire) 4-2; Rupesh Shah (Ind) bt Jani Kananen (Fin) 4-3 (58-77, 70-44, 8-72, 81-34, 50-53, 69-9, 62-48); Mohd Reza Hassan   (Mas) bt Keishin Kamihashi (Jpn) 4-1. Group K: Jason Devaney (Ire) bt Dharminder Lilly (Ind) 4-1 (32-77, 102 (70)-28,  52-15, 104 (104)-24, 80 (51)-23).

Group L: Faisal Khan (Ind) bt Muhammad Faaris Kahn (RSA) 4-1 (82-25, 24-72,  89 (89)-0,  85 (79)-43, 88-49); Zhao Xintong (Chn) bt Shyam Jagitiani (Ind) 4-2 (43-66,  79-11, 88-15, 66-44, 33-68, 94 (84)-1); John Whitty (Eng) bt Mateusz Baranowski     (Pol) 4-2. Group M: Sourav Kothari (Ind) bt Lim Chun Kiat (Sin) 4-1 (59-42, 43-71, 70-29,   70-25, 76 (76)-1); Mohammed Alshamsi (UAE) bt David Judd (NZ) 4-1; Patryk Masłowski (Pol) bt Michael Mengorio (Phi) 4-1. Group N: Tomasz Skalski (Bel) bt Omar Alkojah (Syr) 4-2; Lukas Kleckers (Ger) bt Sundeep Gulati (Ind) 4-1 (31-56, 69-20, 78-24, 84-0, 79-43). Group P: Muhammad Sajjad (Pak) bt Farhan Mirza (Swe) 4-0; Dominik Scherubl (Aut) bt Mohamed Mubeen Mansoor (SL) 4-2.

Women: Group A: Waratthanun Sukritthanes (Tha) bt Wendy Jans (Bel) 3-0 (82-27, 62-6, 39-8); Ip Wan In Jaique (HK) bt Claudia Zardo Cordeiro (Bra) 3-0; Kathy Parashis (Aus) bt R Umadevi Nagaraj (Ind) 3-2 (40-53, 50-27, 74-40, 26-64, 62-51).
Group B: Amee Kamani (Ind) bt Siraphat Chitchomnart (Tha) 3-1 (49-57, 77-45, 46-33, 61-26); Anastasia Nechaeva (Rus) bt Kerry De Pradines (Aus) 3-0; Arantxa Sanchis (Ind) bt Alexandra Teramoto Miyuki (Bra) 3-0 (53-19, 61-1, 64-17). Group C: Vidya Pillai (Ind) bt Sue Martin (Aus) 3-0 (49-40, 68-23, 62-24); Neeta Sanghvi (Ind) bt Anastasija Singurindi (Rus) 3-0 (63-29, 68-27, 62-49); Ng On Yee (HK) bt Fernanda Irineu (Bra) 3-0. Group D: Bussanich Suzanne (Aus) bt Meenal Thakur (Ind) 3-2 (27-65,  8-48, 54-40, 53-40, 48-28); Chitra Magimairaja (Ind) bt Ka Kai Wan (HK) 3-1 (32-67,  56-30,   65-64,  52-14); Carmelita Yumito (Bra) bt Floriza Andal  (Phi) 3-1. Group E: Jessica Woods (Aus) bt Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan (Tha) 3-2; Irina Gorbataya (Rus) bt Madeleine Jeanne Young  (RSA) 3-1; Judy Walia (Ind) bt Denise Santos (Phi) 3-2 (81-74, 38-65, 46-48, 50-47, 73-35). Group F: Tatjana Vasiljeva (Lat) bt So Man Yan (HK) 3-1; Daria Sirotina (Rus) bt Amy Claire King (RSA) 3-1; Varshaa Sanjeev (Ind) bt Indira Gowda (Ind) 3-0 (66-26, 66-23, 55-34).