HYDERABAD: India’s campaign in the IBSF World Snooker Championship came to a tame end when 21-year-old Kamal Chawla fell to the superior Igor Figueiredo of Brazil 1-6 in a lop-sided men’s quarter-final match at the HICC here today.
Joining the 32-year-old Figueiredo in the semi-final line-up are Alfie Burden of England, Phillip Williams of Wales and Yu Delu of China. Burden proved too good for Anthony McGill of Scotland 6-1; Williams walloped Yuttapop Pakpoj of Thailand 6-3 and Delu outlasted Fung Kowke Wai of Hong Kong 6-5 in a marathon match. The 15-frame semi-final matches will be held tomorrow morning.
Figueiredo made history of sorts as Brazil are taking part in the IBSF World championship for the first time. “It’s a great honour to represent a country like Brazil in cue sport,” said the Brazilian.
Figueiredo was in superb touch. He was solid, skilful and in full flow. Figueiredo was off to a flying start as he ran away to a 5-0 lead (86-21, 85-6, 79-2, 72- 6, 61-58). “The first four frames were important. I could pot the shots accurately,” said Figueiredo, who said the score line could be misleading.
For the gallant Chawla, it was a story of missed chances today. “I was not consistent. I missed some easy chances. I was not able to focus in this match,” said Chawla, who was the lone Indian in the fray after favourite Pankaj Advani crashed out yesterday along with Yasin Merchant, Manan Chandra, Aditya Mehta and Lucky Vatnani. Geet Sethi, too, bowed out in the Masters category on Sunday. Chawla praised Figueiredo’s game. “He was brilliant and consistent,” said Chawla.