Pankaj Advani sails into the semifinals

Hurghada, Egypt, November 20, 2015: Former World snooker champion Pankaj Advani sailed into the semifinals of the IBSF World Snooker Championship being played at Sunrise Crystal Bay resort, Hurghada, Egypt.

Advani’s opponent Alex Borg of Malta started off well with a break of 45. Pankaj however slowly caught him with some small but useful breaks. A high quality safety exchanges by both the players thereafter in color balls especially on the black ended with a desperate potting by Borg to go one up in the best of 11 quarterfinals encounter. The second frame saw Pankaj getting into his usual groove very quickly and with the help of two breaks of 40 and 57 drew levels.

Third frame saw Pankaj on full throttle as he kept on potting reds and colours with consummate ease and made a magnificent clearance break of 97 points.

There was no looking back for Advani as he demolished his opponent in the next three frames with breaks of 50 and 108. In the semifinals Pankaj Advani will meet the winner of Greg Casey of Ireland and Lukas Kleckers of Germany.

In the Masters category the only Indian quarterfinalist Rafath Habib failed to reach the medal round as he could not get past Jason Peplow of Malta. Rafath who surprised the former high ranked professional snooker player from Wales and a multiple winner of IBSF Men and Masters Champion Darren Morgan 4-1 in the pre quarter finals started with a massive 134 break in the first frame. Unperturbed by Rafath’s initial onslaught Peplow kept his composure and captured the next two frames to go ahead. Rafath then made a comeback with some fine potting and won the following two frames to go ahead 3-2. Peplow levelled at the next and won the final frame by potting the match winning last black ball in the centre pocket.

In the Women’s category Vidya Pillai who beat Jennifer Zehenter of Germany yesterday 4-0 to move up to the quarters lost to the reigning IBSF world Ladies Champion Wendy Jans of Belgium 2-4.

It was a neck to neck battle in the first 4 frames as both tried to overpower each with some delectable potting and crafty safety play but at the end it was Wendy, who established a stranglehold on the 5th frame from the beginning and went up 3-2. Vidya played the 6th frame brilliantly to set up a possible final 7th frame show down but lost the 6th frame and the match on the final black ball. Wendy Jans will meet Waratthanun Sukritthanes of Thailand.

The Amee Kamani and Chitra Magimairaj Quarter final, an all India encounter was a real thriller. The see-saw battle from the beginning brought both to the final show down. The battle of attrition continued in the decider and at the time of going to press Amee Kamani was leading 54-18 with only one red on the table in the final frame. The winner will be meeting Anastasia Nechaeva of Russia

Press release