No stopping Steven Bennie

By Avinash Nair

BANGALORE, AUG. 23. The `Scottish hurricane' Steven Bennie brooked no stopping. And even the otherwise dour and defiant T.J. Dowling of the Republic of Ireland could only grin and bear it. Steven was on a roll, zooming off to a 4-0 lead before easing on the throttle and Dowling threaded the loose ends only to be stuffed out. Steven won 5-2 at 62-54, 78-56, 59-19, 77-1, 39-66, 40-65, 68-0 to romp into the last eight of the Kheladi.com 12th World under-21 snooker championship at the KSBA hall here today.

Joining Steven in the round of eight was second-seeded Luke Fisher, who quelled the challenge from India's junior National champion Rishab Thukral at 5-3 after being 1-3 down, while Sean O'Neill (Northern Ireland) and Johan D'hondt (Belgium) ruffled a few feathers easing past Robert Murphy (Rep. of Ireland) and Suphachai Wiwatarangkoon (Thailand).

Steven potted from far and near and Dowling turned a mere spectator. Not that Steven came up with any big breaks, since he has a penchant for century breaks having notched up five already. But with 40s and 50s coming easily there was not much Dowling could do. But as has been his wont, after taking a commanding lead the Scot tends to relax and Dowling was quick to win two frames on the run. But that was as far as he could get.

Shrugging aside his complacency, Steven came back roaring and a 68-0 with a long pot `red' saw Dowling shake his head and opponent's hand.

Rishab falters

Rishab too had a brilliant start. Off the blocks in a jiffy, Rishab rattled his fancied rival with some steady potting and shrewd safeties. A 60 followed by a 53 gave Rishab a handsome 124-1 win in the first frame. Although the Englishman fought back to clinch the second, Rishab was not to lose his grip. That was until the fourth frame, as he won 104-1 and 55-45 for the next two. That was it.

Luke as he has proved time and again in the league has this uncanny knack of bouncing back when forced to the wall. And this afternoon too, he did just that which not only threw Rishab off the charge but had his supporters dumbfounded. A 51 and a 64 followed in quick succession and Luke was 4-3 up.

It was Rishab's turn to pull a rabbit out of the hat. But it was not to be, as the ball rolled well for Luke who came up with 74 again, to wrap up the match.

Johan D'hondt is one player who given a chance would seize it with both hands. And Thailand's title contender Suphachai Wiwatarangkoon learnt it the hard way. The no-nonsense 20-year- old from Belgium, with a stiff upper-lip, pulled off a sensational 5-4 win over the Thai, after first levelling scores at 4-4 with a black ball play-off.

Suphachai looked like he had it all wrapped up after coming back from the loss of the first two frames. But Johan fought back gallantly. With a break of 39 Johan led 50-22 only to watch in awe as the Thai, with a potential that would match that of his famed countryman - James Wattanna - came up with a clearance of 28 to tie the scores at 50-all. But a poor break in the black ball play-off enabled the Belgian convert a difficult angle to level scores at 4-4.

In the decider again a couple of fouls with the cue ball gave Johan a big early lead which he hung on to with `bitsy' breaks to clinch the frame (72-46) and match.

Rory McCarrell, alongwith the bespectacled Sean O'Neill of Northern Ireland, made it a double treat for his country. While ironically there is no representation from the Republic of Ireland in the quarterfinals.

Rory was overwhelmingly superior to the `beefy' Aussie Ian Barber winning 5-2, while Sean O'Neill staved off a determined Robert Murphy (Rep. Of Ireland) 5-4. Robert, a finalist in 1998, matched his Northern Ireland rival frame for frame. But in the decider caved under a superb 75 from Sean, with two reds and the colours still on the table.

``Going for a century break was least of my interest. Did not want to surrender the initiative,`` said the soft-spoken 19-year- old, Sean from Belfast.

Rory on the other hand had starting trouble. But once he found his fluency, there was no looking back, although Barber did manage to pull one frame back.

Ben Farnworth, the second seed from New Zealand, also had to ward off a stiff challenge from the last of the Thai brigade - Kobkit Palajin before advancing at 5-4.

Kevin Tang, the lanky Singaporean was another to record a fluent 5-1 win over Pakistan's Md. Atiq after David John (Wales) snuffed out the challenge from the Netherlands' GerritBij de Leij at 5-2.

The quarterfinal line-up: Steven Bennie vs David John; Johan D'hondt vs Rory McCarrell; Luke Fisher vs Sean O'Neill; Kevin Tang vs Ben Farnworth.

lThe results (pre- quarterfinals): David John (Wal) bt Gerrit Bij de Leij (Ned) 5-2 (63-58, 93-0, 38-70, 23-74, 71-9, 80-32, 66- 29); Kevin Tang (Sin) bt Md. Atiq (Pak) 5-1 (85-22, 38-61, 69-34, 74- 67, 76-11, 70-25); Johan D'hondt (Bel) bt Suphachai Wiwatarangkoon (Tha) 5-4 (71-34, 63-26, 0-92, 32-77, 12-69, 62- 55, 18-70, 57-50, 72-46); Sean O'Neill (N. Ire) bt Robert Murphy (Rep. of Ire) 5-4 (43-59, 101-43, 74-5, 21-58, 80-20, 47-69, 77- 39, 41-71, 76-11); Rory McCarrell (N. Ire) bt Ian Barber (Aus) 5- 2 (38-54, 57-29, 70-8, 86-1, 29-61, 64-22, 87-19); Steven Bennie (Sco) bt T.J. Dowling (Rep. of Ire) 5-2 (62-54, 78-56, 59-19, 77- 1, 39-66, 40-65, 68-0); Luke Fisher (Eng) bt Rishab Thukral (Ind) 5-3 (1-124, 70-49, 1-104, 45-55, 71-43, 73-40, 75-44, 77-24); Ben Farnworth (NZ) bt Kobkit Palajin (Tha) 5-4 (74-10, 45-55, 26-77, 85-24, 44-98, 81-36, 106-7, 36-75, 70-63).

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