By Anand Philar
Bengaluru, Nov 26 (IANS): It was left to Australian Adrian Ridley to deliver a huge blow to home hopes as he knocked out Kamal Chawla 4-3 after being down 0-3 to enter the men's Round of 32 of the IBSF World Snooker Championships here Wednesday.
However, India otherwise had much to rejoice as title favourite Pankaj Advani scrambled to a 4-2 win over Tomasz Skalski of Belgium after dropping the opening two frames while Manan Chandra, Lucky Vatnani, Shivam Arora, Sundeep Gulati, Brijesh Damani, Varun Madan and Laxman Rawat also came through their matches.
Chawla, who was in imperious form in the league phase despite playing with a ligament injury to his right thumb, was expected to progress deep into the tournament, looked the gift horse in the mouth against 32-year-old Ridley when he led 3-0.
There were few signs of an impending disaster for the Indian but Ridley punished Chawla, a semi-finalist in the tournament when held here three years ago, for every error and took four frames in a row for the match with breaks of 42 and 46 in the sixth and seventh.
Advani was off to a shaky start as Skalski took a 2-0 lead before the 29-year-old Bengalurean came roaring back to win four frames on the trot, much to the relief of his fans who had gathered in sizeable number at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.
The match was rather scrappy with Skalski making the best of opportunities in the first two frames but the Belgian got sucked into a web of safety play as Advani cut out all frills and flamboyance he is reputed for to focus on winning frames.
"I guess I will have to win ugly but I am happy to get through," said Advani, who was caught in a bind by safety play and some scrappy snooker as he looked nowhere near his best.
Chandra, the 33-year-old from Delhi and a former national champion, switched gears at the right moment to overhaul Muhammad Asif of Pakistan 4-2.
"I thought I played well and was happy with the table with the cushions being very reactive. Of course, I did miss a few shots but overall quite satisfied with my performance," said Chandra.
Last year's runner-up, 17-year-old Zhao Xintong of China displayed super touch as he outclassed Antonis Poullos from Cyprus 4-0 in a matter of just 45 minutes to send out strong signals that he will be the player to watch and beat. Xintong had breaks of 81 and 83.
Fellow Chinese, 14-year-old Yan Bingtao was equally eye catching during his 4-0 demolition of Poland's Mateusz Baranowski.
Elsewhere, Rupesh Shah and Sourav Kothari, who both had impressive runs in the league stage, went down as also young Rahul Ajay Sachdev, who had done well to qualify for the knockouts.
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Jamie Clarke from Wales came up with a brilliant break of 133 that equalled the tournament high by Vatnani as he routed Sweden's Farhan Mirza 4-1.
In the Masters Round of 48 played Tuesday night, four Indians, B.S. Srinivasa Murthy, S.A. Saleem, K.S. Naveen Kumar and Farhad Tengra won their respective matches.
The results (Indians unless mentioned):
MEN (Round of 64): Muhammad Sajjad (PAK) bt Keng Kwang Chan (SIN) 4-2; Duane Jones (WAL) bt Sanderson Lam (ENG) 4-2; Keen Hoo Moh (MAS) bt Kok Leong Lim (MAS) 4-2; Thor Chuan Leong (MAS) bt Ang Boon Chin (SIN) 4-0; Manan Chandra bt Muhammad Asif (PAK) 4-2; Nick Jennings (ENG) bt Hamza Akbar (PAK) 4-1; Mohd Reza Hassan (MAS) bt Karam Fatima (SYR) 4-0; Jamie Clarke (WAL) bt Farhan Mirza (SWE) 4-1; Fabio Sanderson Luersen (BRA) bt Nitesh Madan 4-1; Zhao Xintong (CHN) bt Antonis Poullos (CYP) 4-0; Adrian Ridley (AUS) bt Kamal Chawla 4-3; Shivam Arora bt Michael Collumb (SCO) 4-1; Boonyarit Keattikun (THA) bt I.V. Rajeev 4-0; Sundeep Gulati bt Patryk Maslowski (POL) 4-1; Pankaj Advani bt Tomasz Skalski (BEL) 4-2; Laxman Rawat bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan 4-3; Lucky Vatnani bt Siyavosh Mozayani (IRN) 4-3; Gareth Allen (WAL) bt Robert Murphy (IRE) 4-2; Yan Bingtao (CHN) bt Mateusz Baranowski (POL) 4-0; Soheil Vahedi (IRN) bt Rupesh Shah 4-2; Varun Madan bt Sourav Kothari 4-2; Kritsanaut Lertsattayathom (THA) bt Lim Chun Kiat (SIN) 4-3; Chau Hon Man (HK) bt John Whity (ENG) 4-1; Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt Rahul Ajay Sachdev 4-1; Amir Sarkhosh (IRN) bt Jason Devaney (IRE) 4-2; Michael Judge (IRE) bt Mohsen Bukshaisha (QAT) 4-0; Brijesh Damani bt Fakhire Gierdien (RSA) 4-1; Mohamed Shehab (UAE) bt Ali Alobaidli (QAT) 4-1; Wael Talaat (EGY) bt Lee Chun Wai (HK) 4-1; Luckas Kleckers (GER)AbtAMichael Mengorio (PHI)A4-2; RyanACaustonA(ENG) bt S. Dilip Kumar 4-0; Chi Wai Au (HK) bt Ehsan Heydari Nezhad (IRN) 4-0.
MASTERS (Round of 48): Paul Thomerson (AUS) bt Rene Hemelsoet (BEL) 4-2; Chuchart Trairattanapradit (THA) bt Amar Chawla 4-0; Alun Squire (WAL) bt Hisataka Kamihashi (JPN) 4-0; Munier Cassim (RSA) bt Derek DudgeonA(SCO) 4-0; B.V. Srinivasa Murthy bt Chin Pang David Cheung (HK) 4-1; K.S. Naveen Kumar bt Juha Lehto (FIN) 4-0; Tom O'Driscoll (IRE) bt Karim Abdelmeguid (EGY) 4-1; Anthony Bonner (IRE) bt Stephen Walsh (IRE) 4-3; Farhad Tengra bt A. Mohsin Al-Abdulrahman (QAT) 4-1; Wayne Morgan (WAL) bt S.H. Kamaraj 4-3; Danny Connonlly (ENG) bt Paul Temple (NZ) 4-3; Salim Ali Alsuwaidi (UAE) bt Nadeem Azeez Sait 4-1; Choon Kiat Tey (SIN) bt Richard Peric (AUS) 4-1; Igshaan Stanfield (RSA) bt Ng Yam Shui (HK) 4-3; Chris Todd (AUS) Abt Richard Kornberger (AUT) 4-1; S.A. Saleem bt Glen Wilkinson (AUS) 4-3.