Playing in Group ‘C’, Merchant’s lost 0-5 to Glen Wilkinson of Australia. Wilkinson won 34-16, 33-16, 48-0, 36-28. 40-8 in just under two hours.In Group ‘D’, Chandra lost both his matches after a brief fight and now faces threat of early elimination.
Andrew Pagett of Wales beat Chandra 5-55, 0-59, 46-28, 4-43, 0-75, 66-0, 0-75 in his first match. In the second match, Chandra bowed to his Thai opponent Rachapol Pu-Ob-Orm 34-25, 17-27, 33-28, 33-0, 0-49, 0-60, 43-0, 14-37, 0-49.
Rachapol showed nerves in a high pressure game when he turned the table on much experienced Chandra after trailing 3-1. The Thai cueist displayed impeccable potting and positional play to net the game in his pocket. Englishman Stuart Bingham and Pagget lead the Group 'C' and 'D' respectively securing two wins each.
Published 20 July 2010, 17:00 IST