Bangkok, Sept 8:
Fifteen-time world champion Pankaj Advani stormed into the quarterfinals at the SangSom 6 Red World Championship here today.
Advani maintained a clean slate in the group stage with an all-win record. India’s leading cueist Advani continued to stamp his authority by getting the better of his Chinese opponent Yuan Sijun in the pre-quarterfinal contest.
Advani is the only non-professional left in the fray of Last 8.
Advani raced to a 3-1 lead before Sijun pulled one back to reduce the gap to one frame. The Indian responded strongly to make the scoreline 5-2 only to receive a second wave of Chinese resilience, making the score 5-4 in the best-of-11 encounter.
Trailing by 30 points in the tenth frame, Advani had a difficult clearance to avoid a decider, which he did with surgical precision.
Advani next faces England’s Michael Holt tomorrow.
Having overcome the toughest challenge from Chinese heavyweight Ding Junhui, the Indian earlier continued his fine form to topple established players of the UK-based snooker circuit.
Advani defeated Welshman Dominic Dale, England’s Robert Milkins, Ryan Thomerson from Australia and local talent Phaitoon Phonbun.
On qualifying to the Last 32 knockout stage, Advani whitewashed Germany’s Lukas Kleckers 6-0.
Pankaj no longer participates in the English snooker circuit – his only stint being from 2012 to 2014. The ace Indian cueist chose to return home to represent his country and in a span of two years (2014-15) amassed a record seven world titles.
Out Of those, two world titles came in back-to-back IBSF 6 red championships.
When asked how he felt about his performance thus far, he said, “I’m happy with the conditions here and feel I have more in me to do some damage. But in the short version of snooker anything is possible. It is tricky yet exciting.” (PTI)
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