McCarell surges past Serge Das

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, AUG. 20. Rory McCarell of Northern Ireland surged past Serge Das, in the process ending the Belgian's winning streak in Group E, but it was the lanky Kevin Tan of Singapore who stunned the crowd into silence with a stunning break of 137, the highest in the championship so far, as the qualifiers marched into the knock-out stage of the Kheladi.com 12th World under-21 snooker championship at the KSBA Hall here today.

After a day's rest on the morrow, the round of 32 over nine frames will be played on Tuesday.

Rory McCarrell is a busy player. Prancing from side to side the `baby faced' Irish lad stared at defeat against Serge Das, the Belgian fifth seed. But Rory's fighting qualities tilted the match in his favour. Some positive play enabled the Northern Ireland's Rory not only level the scores at 2-2 but forge ahead. This unexpected upsurge told on the nerves of the Belgian Serge Das as he missed some easy pots.

However, a costly error on the part of Rory gave Serge the chance to restore parity at 3-3. Rory at 46-47, after a foul and a miss by Serge asked the Belgian to continue instead of `re- spotting'. Serge got a `flukish' red on the rebound and then went on to pick the colours one after the other till the black, to win the frame 65-46 and level scores at 3-3.

The decider, however, was a whitewash as Rory compiled breaks of 38 and 40 to win the match at 12-77, 47-73, 57-16, 75- 46, 84-7, 46-65, 78-17.

Kevin Tan, a 21-year-old from Singapore was not to let go an opportunity. And when Roy Stolk the stocky Netherlands lad opened up the frame, Kevin with some impeccable top of the table play did the clearing up job in style. Kevin took all the 15 `reds' (10 times alongwith black, once with pink, once with blue and then with brown) before picking up the colours for a clearance, to a thunderous applause from the motley crowd.

Steven Bennie of Scotland is another who takes a mile when given a quarter. The Scot netted his fifth century break, of 115, in his 4-0 demolition of Aussie Ian Barber. Steven blitzed through his frames giving nothing away to the third seeded Barber, who lost his third match, for a quick 63-36, 137-4, 95- 31, 73-9. Steven had his century break (115) in the second frame with 12 reds, seven blacks, two pinks before clearing the colours. Steven also had breaks of 61 in the third frame and 73 in the fourth.

Luke Fisher down 0-2 came back in fine fashion to remain unbeaten in Group B with a 4-3 defeat of T.J. Dowling (Rep. of Ireland).

Pakistani's Md. Atiq and Sayed Md. S. Shah both needed to win their final league matches to advance into the knock-out stage. While Atiq, down 1-3, pulled it off against Alister Wilson of the Republic of Ireland, Shah who was found overage but allowed to continue in the championship, scored a 4-2 win over Andy Lee (England).

The Indian challenge in the round of 32 will be led by Manan Chandra, Rishab Thukral, Ritesh Shah and Pankaj Advani.

The qualifiers: Group A: 1. Suphachai Wiwatarangkoon (Tha), 2. Pankaj Advani (Ind), 3. Robert Murphy (Rep of Ireland), 4. Oliver Auns (Latvia). Group B: 1. Luke Fisher (Eng), 2. T.J. Dowling (Rep of Ireland), 3. Chris Batchelor (Wales), 4. Md Atiq (Pak). Group C: Steven Bennie (Scot), 2. Manan Chandra (Ind), 3. Brenden O'Donoghue (Rep of Ireland), 4. Ian Barber (Aus). Group D: Sean O'Neill (N. Ireland), 2. Johan D'hondt (Bel), 3. Gerrit Bij de Leij (Neth), 4. Tommy Ang (Sin). Group E: Serge Das (Bel), 2. Rory McCarrell (N. Ireland), 3. Bobby Cruickshanks, 4. Stephen Wellesby (Eng). Group F: Scot Nicholson (Wal), 2. Rishab Thukral (Ind), 3. Kevin Tan (Sin), 4. Roy Stolk (Neth). Group G: 1. David John (Wal), 2. Andy Lee (Eng), 3. Kobkit Palajin (Thai), 4. Sayed Md S Shah (Pak). Group H: 1. Ben Farnworth (NZ), 2. Ritesh Shah (Ind), 3. Arnuparp Putrakul (Thai), 4. Jimmy Cheung (China HK).

The results:

Group A: Scot Farnworth (NZ) bt Pankaj Advani (Ind) 4-2 (73-24, 73-7, 52-16, 19-91, 43-60, 77- 21); Oliver Auns (Lat) bt Tavinne de Croos (SL) 4-0 (64-24, 70-1, 67-14, 88-20); Suphachai Wiwatarangkoon (Tha) bt Robert Murphy (Rep of Ireland) 4-3 (49- 50, 66-55, 77-53, 14-63, 43-86, 66-53, 77-35).

Group B: Md Atiq (Pak) bt Alister Wilson (N. Ireland) 4-3 (76-38, 46-70, 48-60, 21-83, 48-32, 70-2, 65- 18); Luke Fisher (Eng) bt T.J. Dowling (Rep of Ireland) 4-3 (22- 75, 20-64, 86-27, 79-66, 56-12, 25-72, 62-46).

Group C: Steven Bennie (Scot) bt Ian Barber (Aus) 4-0 (63-36, 137-4, 95-31, 73-9); Manan Chandra (Ind) bt Pasi Jantti (Fin) 4-0 (93-26, 72-8, 96-1, 61-9); Brenden O'Donoghue (Rep of Ireland) bt Wayne Belmont (NZ) 4-0 (98-22, 72- 6, 70-15, 73-45); Mustafa Ally ATta (Egy) bt Mohd. Al Sada (Qatar) 4-3 (45-71, 37-53, 55-35, 47- 42, 37-48, 48-19, 55-37).

Group D: Johan D'hondt (Bel) bt Mahesh Jagdale (Ind) 4-0 (62-21, 72-37, 71-7, 74-1); Sean O'Neill (N. Ireland) bt Seinal Warnakula (SL) 97-12, 81-15, 84-16, 66-26); Gerrit Bij de Leij (Neth) bt Tommy Ang (Sin) 4-1 (73-46, 63-40, 70-10, 11-55, 50-36).

Group E: Rory McCarell (N. Ireland) bt Serge Das (Bel) 4-3 (12- 77, 47-73, 57-16, 75-46, 84-7, 46-65, 78- 17); Bobby Cruickshanks (Sco) bt Sohail Jairaj (Ind) 4-0 (65-39, 75-23, 69-18, 68-40); Stephen Wellesby (Eng) bt Chris Calabress (Aus) 4-1 (1-87, 77-47, 60-53, 51-38, 53-49).

Group F: Scot Nicholson (Wal) bt Ngoh Min Choon (Mal) 4-1 (47-84, 66-18, 63-49, 62-33, 58-44); Keven Tan (Sing) bt Roy Stolk (Neth) 4-1 (57-16, 137-0, 2-68, 75-23, 73-21); Rishab Thukral (Ind) bt Tero Suvanto (Fin) 4-0 (66-41, 67-44, 82-33, 60-17).

Group G: Rene van Rijsbergen (Neth) bt Kobkit Palajin (Thai) 4-0 (54-22, 76-32, 63-54, 69-56); David John (Wal) bt Ahmed Aly Abdelaal (Egy) 4-2 (42-71, 81-6, 57-27, 63-59, 52-54, 83-81);Syed Md S Shah (Pak) bt Andy Lee (Eng) 4-2 (54-63, 55-9, 25-58, 57-31, 65-43, 52-10).

Group H: Arnuparp Putrakul (Thai) bt Ahmed AL Sulaiti (Qatar) 4-0 (66-15, 67-18, 71-8, 75-10); Ben Farnworth (NZ) bt Jimmy Cheung (China HK) 4-1 (80-16, 60-16, 62- 14, 46-82, 95-20); Ritesh Shah (Ind) Imrahim S.I.E. sumt (Egy) 4- 1 (58-30, 26-46, 63-51, 65-2, 70-49).

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