National champion beats Australia’s Daniel Thorp 4-0 while
Indian veteran outplays Egyptian Mostafa Aly 3-0.
Title favourites Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi of India led a field of home players past the first hurdle in the league stage of the 35th ONGC-IBSF World snooker championship at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, here on Sunday.
Advani got past Australia’s Daniel Thorp 4-0 with a high break of 71 clearance in the second frame in the men’s section, while Sethi, the eight times World billiards champion, easily beat Mostafa Aly of Egypt 3-0.
In the ladies section, India No.2 Vidya Pillay took nearly four hours to overcome Hong Kong’s So Man Yan 3-1 in her group D match that was stopped as it spilled into the afternoon session but subsequently completed on another table, and Chitra Magaimagarajan just about kept her nerves to defeat Jaique Ip of Hong Kong 3-1.
Also making a winning start were Anuja Chandra who beat Shirley Smith of Australia 3-2 in group D while Neena Praveen received a walk-over as her opponent Nada Abdullah from Syria did not show up.
However, India No.1 Meenal Thakur suffered a 3-1 loss against Hong Kong’s Yu Ching Ching in group C and Sunita Damani fell to a 3-0 defeat against Thailand’s Santhinee Jaisuekul. Advani, the 2003 champion, took a while to settle down and took the first frame on the pink before racing away with the second frame and going on to wrap up the match.
India Results: Men: P Advani (India) bt D Thorp (Australia) 4-0; Masters: SA Saleem (India) bt P Maddumage (Sri Lanka) 3-1, D O’Kane (New Zealand) bt B Murthy (India) 3-0, G Sethi (India) bt M Aly (Egypt) 3-0, P Thomerson (Australia) bt S Habib (India) 3-0, A Vill (Russia) bt A Savur (India) 3-1; Ladies: S Jaisuekul (Thai) bt S Damani (India) 3-0, C Magimairaj (India) bt Jaique Ip (Hongkong) 3-1, K Howden (Australia) bt N Sanghvi (India) 3-0, V Pillai (India) bt So Man Yan (Hong Kong) 3-1, Y Ching (Hong Kong) bt M Thakur (India) 3-1, N Praveen w/o Nada Abdullah (Syria), A Chandra (India) bt S Smith (Australia) 3-2.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}