MANAMA (BAHRAIN), July 23: Down and out for the count against Pakistan’s Ahsan Ramzan, second-seeded Aditya Mehta of India staged a fine comeback to enter the quarterfinals of the IBSF World 6-Red Snooker Championships here on Wednesday.
The seasoned campaigner, was down 2-3 in the best-of-seven frame pre-quarters, and kept his rival at bay with solid safety play to draw level at 3-3 and then made a splendid 71 clearance for a brilliant come-from-behind victory.
The 4-3 verdict helped Mehta, a former World Games gold medallist, set up a quarterfinal meeting against fellow Indian Manan Chandra, who thwarted a spirited challenge from Qatar’s Ahmed Saif.
Chandra, who overcame Saudi Arabia’s Omar Alajlani in the round of 32, jumped to a quick 3-0 lead.
But lapses in concentration allowed Saif, who had overcome another Indian, Brijesh Damaniin the previous round, to stage a fightback.
But the Indian upped his game to come away a 4-2 winner.
Reigning champion Kamal Chawla, however, blew away a 3-2 advantage and bowed out in a round of 32 match against Fung Kwok Wai.
The Hong Kong China cueist came up with two brilliant clearances – 64 and 72 – in the final two frames to dethrone the Indian.
Paras Gupta, the National champion, and Pankaj Advani were the other two Indians to make the last-eight stage.
Results (Indians unless mentioned):
Pre-quarterfinals: Paras Gupta beat Pan Yiming (CHN) 4-1 (46-0, 35-1, 20-34, 32-23, 32-13); Pankaj Advani beat Tomasz Skalski (POL) 4-2 (0-74, 50-0, 42-8, 48-0, 4-52, 45-4); Manan Chandra beat Ahmed Saif (QAT) 4-2 (30-18, 54-0, 70 (70) -0, 18-42, 0-41, 36-25); Aditya Mehta beat Ahsan Ramzan (PAK) 4-3 (25-37, 17-47, 37-27, 50-2, 0-50, 49-4, 71 (71) -0). (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
