As the battle for the knock-out slots intensified, Thailand's Waratthanun Sukritthanes showcased her country's snooker legacy by scoring a shock 3-0 win over defending women's champion Wendy JansAfrom Belgium in the Seaways-IBSF World Snooker Championships, here Sunday.
Sukritthanes, in recording her fifth straight win to qualify for the knockout phase from Group A, underlined the depth of talent in Thailand that has produced the likes of James Wattana and Chuchart Trirattanapradit who inspired a generation of cueists in the last two decades of the previous century.
Such was the dominance of 20-year old Sukritthanes that Jans, thrice winner and four times runner-up in the World Championship, could manage just 41 points in three frames as the Thai youngster played solid snooker which was a nice mix of caution and aggression.
Meanwhile, men's title favourites Zhao Xintong and Pankaj Advani kept looking heavenwards, but not so much for divine intervention as at the colony of pigeons high up on the rafters of the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium as the duo kept their cool amidst distractions to come through their respective matches.
China's 17-year old Xintong, blessed with prodigious talent, saw off Indian veteran Shyam Jagtiani 4-2 in a match full of stoppages due to dust particles and feathers from the roof landing on the table which required frequent brushing.
Xintong did well to smile at these irksome breaks after he lost the first frame on blue, and though the 2013 runner-up won the next four frames, the going was no means comfortable until he uncorked a super-smooth break of 84 in the fifth.
On his part, 29-year old Advani, the 2003 champion, survived many moments of frustration before defeating Brazilian Thadeu Giannattasio NobresA4-0 after just about clinching the first two frames on blue and black before pouching the next two on breaks of 75 clearance and 59.
With five wins in a row, Advani was assured of a knockout berth, something he was happy about as also his frame-winning breaks which he felt were more critical than posting centuries.
"Of course, it is good to qualify for the knockout and the group stage is a formality from now on. As I have been saying, not the ideal conditions here and it is difficult to create breaks which is what snooker is about, but I am happy to get my 50s and 60s that are winning me the frames," said Advani.
Kamal Chawla, one of the dangerous floaters, also recorded his fifth win by defeating Australia's Matthew Bolton 4-1 to qualify for the knockout phase and will be a player to watch out for as also Sourav Kothari who remained unbeaten in four outings.
Meanwhile, National women's champion Vidya Pillai and 22-year old Amee Kamani both posted their fourth win to move closer to the knockout phase of the tournament while Chitra Magimairajan completed her league engagements with a fifth consecutive victory to top Group D with an unbeaten record.
Along with Magimairajan, others to make the round of 24 from Group D were Floriza Andal (Philippines), Ka Kai Wan (Hong Kong) and Carmelita Yumito (Brazil).
The results (league, Indians unless mentioned):
MEN - Group A: Nick Jennings (ENG) beat Shivam Arora 4-3; Alan Whitefield (CAN) beat Cader Mohamed (MAU)4-2.
Group B: Mohsen Bukshaisha (QAT) beat Gary Thomson (SCO) 4-1; Thor Chuanleong (MAS) beat Laxman Rawat 4-2; Mohmed Khairy (EGY) beat Jurian Heusdens (BEL)4-1.
Group C: Hamza Akbar (PAK) beat Varun Madan 4-0; Hatem Yaseen (EGY) bt Ivan Kakaovsky (RUS) 4-3; Kritsanut Lersattayathorn (THA) beat Michael Collumb (SCO) 4-0.
Group D: Gareth Allen (WAL) beat Fabio Andrerson Luersen (BRA) 4-2; Divya Sharma beat Farhad Sayfoo (MAU) 4-1.
Group E: Rahul Ajay Sachdev beat Asutosh Phady 4-1; Yan Bingtao (CHN) beat Wael Talaat (EGY) 4-3.
Group F: Shahbaaz Adil Khan beat Mikhail Terekhov (RUS) 4-1; Marwan Alfalasi(UAE) beat Jurgen Van Roy(BEL) 4-1; Kamal Chawla beat Matthew Bolton (AUS)4 -1.
Group G: Andrej Maksimov (LIT) w/o Chau Hon Man(HK); Boonyarit Keattikum (THA) beat Manan Chandra 4-3; Jamie Clarke (WAL)beat Alvin Barbero(PHI) 4-1.
Group H: Keen Hoo MohA(MAS) beat Paul Schopf (AUT) 4-2; Pankaj Advani beat Thadeu Giannattasio Nobres (BRA)4-0; Lucky Vatnani beat Mike Toth(SWE) 4-0.
Group J: Lee Chun Wai (HK) beat Michael Judge (IRE) 4-2; Mohd Reza Hassan (MAS) beat Keishin Kamihashi (JPN) 4-1.
Group K: Jason Devaney (IRE) beat Dharmender Lilly 4-1.
Group L: John Whitty (ENG) beat Mateusz Baranowski (POL) 4-2; Zhao Xintong (CHN) beat Shyam Jagtiani 4-2; Faisal Khan beat Muhammad Faaris Kahn (RSA) 4-1.
Group M: Sourav Kothari beat Lim Chun Kiat (SIN) 4-1; Mohammed Alshamsi (UAE) beat David Judd (NZ) 4-1.
WOMEN - Group A: Waratthanun Sukritthanes (THA)beat Wendy Jans (BEL) 3-0; Ip Wan In Jaique(HK)beat Claudia Zardo Cordeiro(BRA) 3-0; Kathy Parashis (AUS) beat Revanna Umadevi 3-2.
Group B: Amee Kamani beat Siraphat Chitchomnart (THA) 3-1; Anastasia Nechaeva (RUS) beat Kerry De Pradines (AUS) 3-0; Arantxa Sanchis beat Alexandra Teramoto Miyuki (BRA) 3-0.
Group C: Vidya Pillai beat Sue Martin(AUS) 3-0; Neeta Sanghvi beat Anastasija Singurindi (RUS) 3-0; Ng On Yee (HK) beat Fernanda Irineu (BRA) 3-0.
Group D: Bussanich Suzanne (AUS) beat Meenal Thakur 3-2; Chitra Magimairajan beat Ka Kai Wan (HK) 3-1; Carmelita Yumito (BRA) beat Floriza Andal (PHI) 3-1.
Group E: Jessica Woods (AUS) beat Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan (THA) 3-2; Irina Gorbataya (RUS) beat Madeleine Jeanne Young (RSA) 3-2; Judy Walia beat Denise Santos (PHI) 3-2.
Group F: Varsha Sanjeev beat Indira Gowda 3-0; Tatjana Vasijieva (RUS) beat So Man Yan (HK) 3-1; Daria Sirotina (RUS) beat Amy Claire King (RSA) 3-1.
MASTERS - Group C: Kamaraj Sha beat Marcio Da Silva Bartolomeu (BRA) 3-2; Rene Hemelsoet (BEL) beat Walid Abbdel Mohsen(EGY)A3-1.
GroupD: Darren Morgan (WAL) beat Michael David Hines (RSA) 3-0; Farhad Tengrabt beat Hisataka Kamihashi (JPN) 3-1; Ng Yam Shui (HK) beat Clausdieter Franschitz (AUT) 3-0.
Group E: Munier Cassim (RSA) beat Danny Connolly (ENG) 3-2; Saleem Syed Abdul beat Naoki Matsuzaki (JPN) 3-0; Peter Vertommen (BEL) beat Mohanraj Sivasubramaniam (SUI) 3-0.
Group F: Graham Beardmore (ENG) beat Terry Davidson (CAN) 3-1.
Group J: Alum Squire (WAL) beat B.V Srinivasa Murthy 3-2; Ebrahim Baghi (AUT) beat Moosa Saleem (MAU) 3-2; Choon Kiat Tey (SIN) beat Muhammed Leysi (TUR) 3-0.
