National champion Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta confirmed berths in the knock-out round of the IBSF World under-21 snooker championship with straightforward victories in their respective penultimate league matches at Taupo, New Zealand, on Tuesday.
In the seven-player Group F, 18-year old Advani, from Bangalore, brushed aside Nisar Ahmed Saif of Qatar 4-0 for his fifth consecutive victory that put him on top of the Group while confirming his progress to the round of 32.
Pankaj plays Albert Kenny of Ireland tomorrow. The result is inconsequential as Kenny too progressed to the knock-out stage, with four wins.
Jamie O'Neill of England, who too has four wins, and Saif, with a 6-3 record, also advanced.
Mehta, the 17-year old from Mumbai, had a comfortable outing as he vanquished David Meer-Bailey of New Zealand 4-0. It was Aditya's fifth win in six matches and assured him a spot in the knock-out round of the championship.
Mehta thus followed Mark Allen of Ireland, Tian Pengfei of China and Jamie Jones of Wales from Group D into the round of 32.
The third Indian entry, Sourav Kothari, the 18-year old from Kolkata, has won only two of his six matches in Group E, and has very slim chances of advancing to the next stage.
He needs to beat Patrick Einsle of Germany 4-0 in the concluding league fixture tomorrow which will boost his frame difference from the present 2 to +2 and then await the results of other matches to know his fate.
Meanwhile, defending champion Ding Junhui of China topped Group A with six wins from seven matches, nudging David Morris of New Zealand to second place on better frame-difference.
Shannon Dixon (Australia) and Ben Woolaston (England) were the others to make it to the knock-out stage from this group.
Junhui defeated Morris 4-2 to win the battle of Group A.
In a high quality match, Morris, despite a break of 124 in the fifth frame, could not match Junhui's consistency as the 16-year-old Chinese, assisted by breaks of 50 and 65, came out the winner.
Issara Kachaiwong of Thailand, topped Group B after he sailed to an easy 4-0 victory over Canada's Tom Morel, which included breaks of 74 and 94.
