Four Indian women cueists, including Vidya Pillai and Neeta Sanghvi, today made it to the knockout round of the Seaways IBSF World Snooker Championship at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here.
The other two women players from the country to advance are Amee Kamani and Arantxa Sanchis.
In the men's category, Manan Chandra and Shabaaz Adil qualified for the next stage despite losing their matches to Welshman Jamie Clarke and Australia's Mathew Bolton respectively.
Pankaj Advani and Sourav Kothari have already qualified for the elimination stage. Kothari today recorded his fifth win in as many matches by defeating Poland's Patryck Maslowski 4-0.
For Vidya it was yet another a disappointing day for her in this championship after she lost 2-3 to twice World Champion and Hong Kong's Ng On Yee, who remained unbeaten in the league phase.
Vidya had been all over the place in the tournament so far, in spite of registering victories, which were dissatisfying as per her admittance.
In the men's section, former National champion Rupesh Shah outwitted 13-year old Japanese Keishin Kamihashi 4-0 for his fourth win in Group J to advance to the round of 64.
The match was closer than the scoreline might suggest as the Japanese schoolboy from Nagoya had Shah in trouble in a couple of frames where the Indian had to fight from behind.
Chandra went down 2-4 to Clarke, but having won three matches in his Group, the temperamental Indian progressed to the next round.
Shabaaz lost to Bolton 2-4, but still booked his slot in the knockout stage on the back of his three wins in Group F which Kamal Chawla topped with five victories and one loss that he suffered today against Singapore's Ang Boon Shin who came through in seven frames.
Brazilian Denise Santos set a new benchmark for women with a splendid break of 91 while defeating Irina Gorbataya of Russia 3-0 in a Group E encounter.
While the victory, only her second in five outings, did not assure 18-year old Santos a place in the knockout phase, it kept her in the hunt, but more importantly, she showcased her potting and break-building prowess.
