India’s Chitra Magimairajan on Sunday booked her berth in the knockout phase after she completed her league engagements with fifth win in a row, while compatriots Vidya Pillai and rising star Amee Kamani also inched closer to the next stage of the Seaways IBSF World Snooker Championship.
Along with Magimairajan, others to make the knockouts from Group D are Floriza Andal of Philippines, Ka Kai Wan of Hong Kong and Carmelita Yumito of Brazil.
Also to qualify in the round-of-24 was Thailand’s Waratthanun Sukritthanes after she delivered a shocking 3-0 blow to defending champion Wendy Jans of Belgium in a Group A contest.
Veteran Shyam Jagtiani, a former National champion, showed he still had something left in his repertoire as he gave title favourite and last year’s runner-up Zhao Xintong of China a pretty good fight before losing 1-4.
Zha lost a tight first frame on the blue before bouncing back to take the second on the black and then fought his way back to win the next three for his third win in four outings.
The 17-year-old Zhao has not been in his usual touch -- though he pulled off a win, he has to keep a watch on Group D result which is heading to the wire with England’s John Whitty, India’s Faisal Khan and Polish teenager Mateusz Baranowski, having won three matches apiece.
Star Indian cueists Pankaj Advani and Kamal Chawla, who had booked their places in the knockout stage yesterday, maintained their unbeaten run by clinching five matches on the trot.
Joining the home pair in the round-of-64 were Iranian Sarkhosh, Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn of Thailand and Hong Kong’s Lee Chun Wai, all notching their fifth win in their respective Groups.
Advani took out Thadeu Giannattasio Nobres of Brazil 4-0 after surviving early struggles as he took the first frame on the blue and second on black before crafting a 75 clearance in the third and 59 in the fourth while Chawla cruised to a 4-1 win over Australia’s Matthew Bolton.
In the masters category, S A Saleem beat Naoli Matssuzahi of Japan 3-0 to ensure his passage to knockout stage.
