Date:01/08/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/08/01/stories/2004080102601500.htm

Sport - Billiards & Snooker

Advani posts fifth straight win

NEW DELHI, JULY 31. World amateur champion Pankaj Advani notched up his fifth straight win and booked his place in the last 32 stage of the 2004 IBSF World Under-21 snooker championship in Carlow, Ireland, on Saturday.

Advani missed a century break by a whisker as his flow was disrupted when he missed a sitter in the third frame. With his 99 Advani took the frame 104-1 to establish 3-0 lead against Irishman Colvin O'Brien. The cueist from Ireland managed a 48 in the fourth to reduce the margin before Advani closed the issue winning the fifth frame 82-59 for a 4-1 result.

Advani, who had breaks of 61 and 48 early on, faces the top seeds in his group `D' in the next two days of the league matches. Malaysia's John Loh El Long and China's Tian Peng Fei are the seeded players in the group. Fei has been in a remarkable form, also winning all his five league matches including the highest break of 141.

The other Indians, Sourav Kothari and Aditya Mehta, also had a good day as they registered their first wins.

Kothari defeated Alberth Kenny of Ireland 4-1 while Mehta also scored identical win over Jaime Jones of Wales.

The results (league):

Group D: Pankaj Advani bt Colvin O'Brien (Ire) 4-1 (78-27, 65-20, 104-1, 10-76, 82-59). Group E: Sourav Kothari bt Albert Kenny (Ire) 4-1 (72-54, 51-77, 66-51, 65-31, 57-48). Group F: Aditya Mehta bt Jaime Jones (Wal) 4-1 (52-76, 76-46, 74-34, 69-48, 78-31).