It was a case of groping in the dark and finding one's feet on the second day of the Seaways-IBSF World Snooker Championship here Thursday as most struggled to get used to the playing conditions though the Indian camp had some reason to smile.
Pankaj Advani and Vidya Pillai, along with fellow-Indians Kamal Chawla, semi-finalist in the 2011 edition, Manan Chandra, Chitra Magimairajan and Amee Kamani, the 22-year old southpaw from Indore, posted their second win.
The freshly-fitted tables are still to settle down and also inadequate air-conditioning in the huge indoor stadium, contributed to the lack of pace, thus affecting the performance of almost all the players.
Advani, the 29-year old Bengalurean and among the hot favourites for men's crown that he had won in 2003, was hardly in full flow, but didn't mind as he won.
In fact, Advani looked far from his best while defeating Hong Kong's Chi Wai Au 4-0 with breaks of 53 and 63 in the third and fourth frames.
"Obviously, the newly-laid tables are a bit slow and so, you need to roll the cue ball a bit more than usual. I am still trying to find my way about the table. I guess, it is the same for all players here and the fact that just three centuries have been made so far when more were expected, reflects the fact that most competitors are still to get used to the conditions here," he said.
"However, I am quite happy to get the job done and played much better than I did yesterday though the conditions were tough. So, let us see how things pan out in the coming days," said the World 6-Reds champion.
The three centurions so far have been Mohsen Bukshaisha of Qatar (108), Belgian Jurian Heusdens (106) and the United Arab Emirate's (UAE) Mohamed Shehab (101).
Earlier, Indian National champion and twice bronze-medallist in the championship Vidya Pillai, aided by a break of 44 in the second frame, breezed past Fernanda Irineu of Brazil 3-0 for her second win without dropping a frame.
Delhi-based former national champion Chandra, trailing 1-3, beat Alvin Barbero of the Philippines 4-3 for his second win in the group, a break of 62 in the second frame marking his progress.
"It took me a while to get used to my opponent's slow play and when I was down 1-3, I took it easy knowing that I have other matches to play in the league. However, when I made it 3-3, the pressure was on him and I managed to win," said Chandra who had beaten Russian Andrej Maksimov 4-0 Wednesday.
The results (league, Indians unless mentioned):
MEN - Group A: Amir Sarkhosh (IRN) bt Alan Whitfield (CAN) 4-1; Tetsuya Kuwata (JPN) bt Cader Mohamed (MAU) 4-1; Shivam Arora bt Robert Murphy (IRE) 4-1.
Group B: Mohsen Bukshaisha (QAT) bt Mohamed Khairy (EGY) 4-0; Antonis Poullos (CYP) bt Jurian Heusdens (BEL) 4-1; Gary Thomson (SCO) bt Laxman Rawat 4-3.
Group C: Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn (THA) bt Hatem Yaseen (EGY) 4-1; Ivan Kakovsky (RUS) bt Vinicius da Silva Fucuta (BRA) 4-2; Michael Collumb (SCO) bt Varun Madan 4-1.
Group D: Gareth Allen (WAL) bt Farhad Sayfoo (MAU) 4-0; Ali Alobaidli (QAT) bt Divya Sharma 4-3; Fabio Anderson Luersen (BRA) w/o MSM Rasheed (SL) 4-0.
AGroup E: Wael Talaat (EGY) bt Jim Johansson (SWE) 4-1; Karam Fatima (SYR) bt Asutosh Padhy 4-2; Yan Bingtao (CHN) w/o Mohammad Rais Senzahi (AFG).
Group F: Kamal Chawla bt Marwan Alfalasi (UAE) 4-1; Ang Boon Chin (SIN) bt Jurgen Van Roy (BEL) 4-1; Matthew Bolton (AUS) bt Mikhail Terekhov (RUS) 4-0.
Group G: Boonyarit Keattikun (THA) bt Chau Han Man (HK) 4-0; Paul Bason (NZ) bt Andrej Maksimov (LIT) 4-0; Manan Chandra bt Alvin Barbero (PHI) 4-3.
Group H: Pankaj Advani bt Chi Wai Au (HK) 4-0; Keen Hoo Moh (MAS) bt Mike Toth (SWI) 4-0; Paul Schopf bt Thadeu Giannattasio Nobres (BRA) 4-1.
Group J: Rupesh Shah bt Ajeya Prabhakar (US) 4-2; Michael Judge (IRE) bt Jani Kananen (FIN) -1; Lee Chun Wai (HK) bt Mohd Reza Hassan (MAS) 4-0.
Group K: Ryan Causton (ENG) bt Dharmender Lilly 4-0; Jason Devaney (IRE) bt Kok Leong Lim (MAS) 4-3; Devaney bt Nadir Khan Sultani (AFG) 4-0.
Group L: Mateusz Baranowski (POL) bt Shyam Jagtiani 4-2; Faisal Khan bt John Witty (ENG) 4-2; Keng Kwang Chan (SIN) bt Muhammad Faaris Kahn (RSA) 4-0.
AWOMEN - Group A: Waratthanun Sukritthanes (THA) bt Ip Wan In Jaique (HK) 3-0; Neena Praveen bt Claudia Zardo Cordeiro (BRA) 3-1; Wendy Jans (BEL) bt Kathy Parashis (AUS) 3-0.
Group B: Anastasia Nechaeva (RUS) bt Siraphat Chitchomnart (THA) 3-2; Amee Kamani bt Alexandra Teramoto Miyuki (BRA) 3-0; A
Group C: Vidya Pillai bt Fernanda Irineu (BRA) 3-0; Nicola Illse Rossouw (RSA) bt Anastasija Singurindi (Rus) 3-1;
Group D: Ka Kai Wan (HK) bt Meenal Thakur (Ind) 3-1 (51-59, 60-51, 56-26, 45-17); Chitra Magimairajan bt Carmelita Yumito 3-1.
Group F: So Man Yan (HK) bt Indira Gowda 3-1; Daria Sirotina (RUS) bt Kimberlee Brewer (NZ) 3-2.
MASTERS - Group A: Derek Dudgeon (SCO) bt Masahiro Harada (JPN) 3-0; Tom O'Driscoll (IRE) bt Paul Temple (NZ) 3-1; Nadeem Ahmed w/o Saleh Mohammadi (AFG).
Group B: Noel Rodrigues Moreira (BRA) bt Naveen Kumar KS 3-0; Richard Kornberger (RSA) w/o Zemarai Hassas (AFG) 3-0; Paul Thomerson (AUS) bt Petri Kopponen (FIN) 3-0;
Group C: Phisit Chandsri (THA) bt Marcio Da Silva Bartolomeu (BRA) 3-0; Rene Hemelsoet (BEL) bt Kamaraj SH 3-0; Wayne Brown (ENG) bt Walid Abdel Mohsen (EGY) 3-0.
Group D: Hisataka Kamihashi (JPN) bt Michael David Hines (RSA) 3-0; Ng Yam Shui (HK) bt Farhad Tengra 3-0; Darren MorganA(WAL)AbtAClausdieter FranschitzA(Aut)A3-0.
Group E: Danny Connolly (ENG) bt Mohanraj Sivasubramaniam (SWI) 3-0; Munier Cassim (RSA) bt Naoki Matsuzaki (JPN) 3-0.
Group F: GrahamABeardmoreA(ENG) btAA MohsimAAl-AbdulrahmanA(QAT)A3-0; Terry DavidsonA(CAN) btASinan CetinkayaA(SWI)A3-0.
Group G: Alok Kumar bt Wayne Morgan (WAL) 3-0.
Group L: Chuchart Trirattanapradit (THA) bt Venkatesham K 3-0; Stephen Walsh (IRE) bt Julio Cesar Maus (BRA) 3-1; Craig MacGillvray (SCO) bt Igshaan Stanfield (RSA) 3-1.
Group M: Rafath Habib bt Glen Wilkinson (Aus) 3-0; Chin Pang David Cheung (HK) bt Alexander Trinkl (AUT) 3-1.
(Anand Philar can be contacted at anandphilar@gmail.com)
