Manama (Bahrain): Down and out for the count against Pakistan’s Ahsan Ramzan, second-seeded Aditya Mehta staged a Houdini act to keep his title hopes alive at the IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championships here on Wednesday.
The seasoned campaigner, down 2-3 in the best-of-seven frame pre-quarters, kept his rival at bay with solid safety play to draw level at 3-3 and then made a splendid 71 clearance for a brilliant come-from-behind victory.
The 4-3 verdict helped Mehta, a former World Games gold medallist, set up a quarterfinal meeting against fellow Indian Manan Chandra, who thwarted a spirited challenge from Qatar’s Ahmed Saif.
Chandra, who overcame Saudi Arabia’s Omar Alajlani in the round of 32, jumped to a quick 3-0 lead. But lapses in concentration allowed Saif, who had overcome another Indian, Brijesh Damani, in the previous round, to stage a fightback. But before much damage could be done, the Indian upped his game a notch to come away a deserving 4-2 winner.
Reigning champion Kamal Chawla, however, blew away a 3-2 advantage and bowed out in a round of 32 match against Fung Kwok Wai. The Hong Kong China cueist came up with two brilliant clearances – 64 and 72 – in the final two frames to dethrone the Indian.
Paras Gupta, the National champion, and Pankaj Advani were the other two Indians to make the last-eight stage. While Gupta downed China’s Pan Yiming 4-1, Advani defeated Poland’s Tomasz Skalski 4-2.
GARG LOSES IN QUARTERS
In the U-21 category, Mayur Garg, the lone Indian to make the quarterfinals, came up short against Ahsan Ramzan. Having defeated fellow Pakistani and World U-17 champion Muhammad Hasnain earlier, Ramzan carried far too many guns for Garg, scoring a lopsided 4-0 win.
Results (Indians unless mentioned):
Pre-quarterfinals: Paras Gupta bt Pan Yiming (Chn) 4-1 (46-0, 35-1, 20-34, 32-23, 32-13); Pankaj Advani bt Tomasz Skalski (Pol) 4-2 (0-74, 50-0, 42-8, 48-0, 4-52, 45-4); Manan Chandra bt Ahmed Saif (Qat) 4-2 (30-18, 54-0, 70 (70) -0, 18-42, 0-41, 36-25); Aditya Mehta bt Ahsan Ramzan (Pak) 4-3 (25-37, 17-47, 37-27, 50-2, 0-50, 49-4, 71 (71) -0).
Round of 32: Advani bt Ahmed Aseeri (KSA) 4-0 (43-35, 41-0, 31-23, 31-8); Chandra bt Omar Alajlani (KSA) 4-3 (37-0, 26-34, 14-40, 37-12, 41-6, 17-44, 36-25); Saif bt Brijesh Damani 4-3 (1-46 (43), 3-48 (44), 22-48, 34-32, 43-0, 44-3, 37-33); Fung Kwok Wai (HKC) bt Kamal Chawla 4-3 (35-27, 38-19, 30-39, 26-39, 11-47 (35), 64 (64) -0, 72 (72) -6).
U-21:
Quarterfinal: Ahsan Ramzan (Pak) bt Mayur Garg 4-0 (103 (58) -42, 82-0, 56-39, 74-23).
Pre-quarters: Mayur Garg bt Kwan Chuen Chen (HKC) 4-2 (52-24, 32-61, 62-44, 52-61, 62-9, 66-27); Kai Nam Pang (HKC) bt Mayank Karthik 4-1 (60-55, 59-4, 47-74 (49), 80-26, 58-44).