Pankaj Advani suffered a shock defeat to crash out of the IBSF World Snooker Championship even as three others Indians including seasoned Yasin Merchant advanced to the pre-quarterfinals in Hyderabad on Sunday.
World Champions Advani lost his second round of the men's event 59-77, 45-70, 11-71, 73-44, 55-65, 62-02, 65-30, 23-67 to Anthony Brabin of Cyprus at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre.
Brabin was impressive right from the word go and in no time he was leading by three frames. Advani though fought back and won three of the next four frames but lost the eight frame, which spelled his ouster from the prestigious event.
Brabin struck a rich break of 54 in the concluding frame to clinch the issue 5-3 and eliminated the world champion.
However, veteran Merchant and experienced Kamal Chawla kelp the Indian hopes alive by winning their respective matches in the men's event.
Merchant ended the challenge of compatriot Alok Kumar 5-1 in the round of 32 to book a pre-quarterfinal clash with Brazil's Igor Figueiredo, who defeated Germany's Patrick Einsle in his match.
Merchant won 76-37, 37-54, 61-11, 53-01, 76-09, 88-00. Chawla had to toil hard against Malta's Alex Borg before scripting a marathon 54-70, 60-54, 61-53, 12-53, 80-25, 15-77, 64-01, 45-56, 68-22 win. Chawla will face Brabin in the pre-quarters.
Another Indian who kept the tri-colour fluttering was Lucky Vatnani, who defeated compatriot R Girish 5-2.
Promising Vatnani won 44-78, 73-39, 56-70, 75-42, 64-07, 74-07, 62-45 to set up the next round clash with Anthony McGill of Scotland.
McGill had outclassed India's Manan Chandra 5-3 in his second round.
