World-title holder now has to win his next match against Brijesh Damani 4-2 to advance.
Day Two at the Nahar-MIG All India Invitation Snooker Championship saw Shabaz Khan shocking favourite Pankaj Advani at the MIG Club on Sunday. Khan won 4-1.
Advani, who had won his opener against Gaurav Prabhu 4-0, won the first frame against Khan.
However, Khan, rated highly on the circuit, came back strong, capitalized on a few errors made by the world champion to secure a win.
After the match Advani was still optimistic, “I have been in this situation before and now I have to win my match tomorrow (Monday) to reach the quarterfinals,” he said.
Advani was also full of praise for his opponent, “He played a good match and I made a few mistakes.” For Pankaj to qualify for the quarters he now needs to win his next match by a margin of 4-2.
Looking ahead to his next match against Brijesh Damani, Advani added, “The last few times we have played it has always gone down to the last frame and I can’t let that happen if I want to qualify for the quarters.”
In other matches in the day Damani beat Khan 4-3 in a tight contest. Saurav Kothari, who will be participating in the Asian Snooker Championship, won a thriller against Devendra Joshi clinching the match 4-3. Geet Sethi who has looked off colour in this tournament was beaten 2-4 by R Girish.
Results: Pankaj Advani bt Gaurav Prabhu 4-0 (73-21 89-0 73-9 73-49) Saurav Kothari bt Devendra Joshi 4-3 (64-47 53-69 27-76 13-79 64-40 71-37 92-26);Yasin Merchant bt RH Manudeo 4-2 (63-11 2-61 23-82 17-64 67-48 70-47); Brijesh Damani bt Shahbaz Khan 4-3 (39-46 54-81 61-20 58-42 63-02 18-71 72-29); R Girish bt Geet Sethi 4-2 (51-30 51-56 87-0 25-58 71-58 59-17) Shabaz Khan bt Pankaj Advani 4-1 (79-90 98-61 74-52 75-8 91-43)
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