Eighteen-year-old Pankaj Advani stretched his form further to win a difficult match against Eugene Hughes of the Republic of Ireland as two other Indians, Rishabh Thakkar and Siddarth Parikh, won their matches in the World Billiards Championship in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Continuing his winning streak, Advani trounced Hughes 14-151, 151-96, 150-5, 150-138 while Thakkar got better of John Mcintyre (Northern Ireland) 151-86, 151-103, 150-90 and Parikh defeated James Moore (Republic of Ireland) 151-46, 151-126, 150-71.
After losing the first frame to the chubby Irishman, Advani, who recently won the World snooker title, took control of the baize and cued well, mostly banking on top table shots to take the second frame.
The Indian ace was at his best in the next frame as he notched up the victory mark of 150 even while his opponent was trying to settle down with a score of just five.
It was a tense battle of wits in the fourth frame after the two cueists had good breaks and young Advani stopped in his tracks at 149 and could not pot even simple canon while Hughes had a very difficult ball position to work his way up.
With the white in, he played a rebound shot and the shot worked out well to the surprise of the cueist himself. He tried to repeat the shot but failed and the young Advani too could not get the single point for victory as he failed to pot a rather simple combination.
Hughes, who had displayed his skills of staying at the table for long picking points in 2s and 3s, fumbled when it mattered most and Advani made it in the next visit to romp home a 3-1 winner.
Results:
Mathew Bolton (Aus) bt Peter Francisco (SA) 150-58, 152-100, 151-18; B Bhaskar (Ind) bt Hekta (Ina) 150-64, 150-88, 152-54; Robby Foldvari (Pro-Aus) bt Mark Anthony Boyle (Sco) 123-150, 150-91, 104-152, 151-0, 150-60; David Causier (Pro-Eng) bt Tauriq Samsodien (SA) 150-17, 150-21, 151-11; Thawat Sujarlithurakaran (Tha) bt John Hartley (Eng) 151-65, 154-63, 84-150, 151-24; Baul Bennett (Pro-Eng) bt Duncan Bezzina (Malta) 150-48, 151-118, 152-82; Alok Kumar (Ind) bt K H Sirisoma (Sri) 150-121, 150-148, 150-36; UKuaw Oo (Myanmar) bt Alexander Borg (Malta) 150-27, 150-21, 150-79; Rishabh Thakkar (Ind) bt John Mcintyre (Northern Ireland) 151-86, 151-103, 150-40; Martin Spoormanns (Bel) bt Roy Lattimer (Northern Ireland) 151-76, 152-73, 150-76, 131-155; Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Eugene Huges (Rep of Ireland) 14-151, 151-96, 150-5, 150-138; Siddarth Parikh (Ind) bt James Moore (Rep of Ireland) 151-46, 151-121, 150-71; Gary Oliver (NZ) bt Kurram Hussain Agha (Pak) 151-117, 153-108, 151-46; Lee Lagan (Eng) bt Stephen Baillie (Sco) 150-2, 151-28, 152-36.
