Advani in World Snooker Championship pre-quarters

B D Narayankar

Press Trust of India

Bangalore, Dec 1: Continuing his winning streak and appearing a cut above others, Indian ace cueist Pankaj Advani scripted a sizzling victory to enter pre-quarterfinals of the IBSF World Snooker Championship at KSBA auditorium on Thursday. The seven-time world champion's 5-0 demolition of Ireland's Mark Tuite would give a much-needed boost to his self-belief, which is a bit low in the event of not being able to win a single international title this year.
Even before the Indian fans could settle down in their seats, Advani powered in a classy 73-24 to win the initial frame 1-0 in the best-of-nine frame encounter against Tuite.
He continued dominating his rival almost putting him out of race with runs of 77-36 and 61-23 in the second and third frames. A break of 61 points in the fourth frame ensured there were no qualms for the former champion. He won the fourth and fifth frames 92-0 and 57-43.
Besides Advani, former champion from Thailand Thepchaiya Un-Nooh defeated Egypt's Mohammad Khairy 5-1 to seal his place in pre-quarters.
Thepchaiya outclassed Khairy 99-0, 77-18, 0-92, 108-40, 70-15, 91-15, rifling in classy breaks of 99, 77, 84 in first, fifth and sixth frames.
Scotland's Craig Macgillivray thrashed Ukraine's Sergiy Isayenko 5-1 and booked a berth in the pre-quarters.
The Ukranian cueist let Craig off the hook in his 55-62, 8-67, 76-18, 17-67, 1-86, 5-100 defeat in a match that seemed one-sided.
Australian cueist Vinnie Calabrese also stormed into the last 16 beating Syria's Karam Fateima 5-0.