HYDERABAD: Kamal Chawla of India stopped the giant-killing act of Greek Cypriot Anthony Brabin 5-2 in the men’s pre-quarterfinals of the IBSF-World Snooker Championship at HICC here on Sunday. Down by 0-2, Chawla bounced back to conquer Brabin 7-70, 51-69, 72-61, 120-14, 65-50, 73-53, 103-15. In the morning, Brabin shocked 2003 World champion and favourite Pankaj Advani 5-3.
In the women’s section, India’s number one Meenal Thakur and Chitra Magimairaj bowed out of the Championship.
Chitra bows out
Ramona Belmont of New Zealand had the measure of Chitra Magimairaj (Ind) 90-66, 40-84, 70-32, 60-39, 75-38 while Kathy Parashis of Australia swept past an error-prone Meenal Thakur 58-13, 49-40, 70-39, 46-77, 23-44, 54-42 in the women’s quarter-final matches here today.
Advani crashes out
It was a bad day for the Indians in the morning when Manan Chandra and Aditya Mehta made their exits along with Advani. Manan Chandra lost to 3-5 to Anthony McGill of Scotland while Aditya Mehta went down to 3-5 to Gavin Pantall of Wales.
There was something to cheer for the local fans in the morning with Lucky Vatnani making it to the last 16. Vatnani, the wild card entry, stopped the run of Girish Rajasekhar 5-2.
Two-time Asian champion Yasin Merchant, now the biggest hope for India, overwhelmed Alok Kumar 5-1 and Chawla prevailed over Alex Borg of Malta 5-4.
Brabin was fluent and confident against Advani. He played the waiting game to perfection. “I came into this tournament wanting to do well, but beating Pankaj is huge for me. Even when I led 4-1, I was careful and when he made it 3-4, I realised I had to go for my shots. The last time I met him in Holland (2004 World championship), I was leading 2-0 but he beat me 4-2,” said a delighted Brabin, who impressed with his long distance potting.
The off-colour Advani committed unforced errors. Advani praised Brabin’s game. “All credit goes to Brabin. I have no excuses. Yes, it is disappointing, but I failed to finish off frames that I should have won,” said disappointed Advani.
China’s Tian Pengfei, who notched up two century breaks of 118 and 101, also bowed out of the tournament, losing 4-5 by Thailand’s Supoj Saenia 4-5.
Title favourite Alfie Burden of England scored an unimpressive 5-3 win over Nader Khan Sultani of Afghanistan.