Advani in World snooker pre-quarters

Continuing his winning streak, ace India cueist Pankaj Advani scripted a sizzling victory to enter the pre-quarter-finals in the IBSF World Snooker Championship at KSBA auditorium, Bangalore, on Thursday.

The seven-time World champion's 5-0 demolition of Ireland's Mark Tuite will boost his self-belief, which is a bit low in the event of not being able to win a single international title this year.

Advani won 73-24, 77-36, 61-23, 92-0, 57-43.

Besides Advani, former champion Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh defeated Egypt's Mohammad Khairy 5-1 to seal his place in the pre-quarters.

Thepchaiya won 99-0, 77-18, 0-92, 108-40, 70-15, 91-15, rifling in classy breaks of 99, 77 and 84 in the first, fifth and sixth frames.

Scotland's Craig Macgillivray thrashed Ukraine's Sergiy Isayenko 5-1 (55-62, 8-67, 76-18, 17-67, 1-86 5-100) and also booked a berth in the pre-quarters.

Meanwhile, Yasin Merchant's title hopes were dashed when he was defeated by Australia's Steve Mifsud 4-5.

With this win, the former World champion stormed into the last 16 stage. Breaks of 108 and 57 in first and fourth frames put Mifsud 3-1 up in the match. He pulled off the next two frames, 9-129 and 70-18 after crafting 127 and 70 breaks in fifth and sixth frames.

Merchant, however, came back winning seventh and eighth frames 70-7 and 95-13, but conceded the final frame to Mifsud 68-1 with a break of 67.

Unlike Merchant, Kamal Chawla entered pre-quarters when he pulled off a 5-3 win against compatriot Anuj Uppal (68-24, 59-27, 25-82, 81-41, 57-46, 70-81, 50-51, 76-0).

Belgium's Kevin Van Hove also booked a last 16 berth after handing out 5-3 defeat to Wales Rhydian Richards. He won 78-10, 69-62, 69-73, 7-58, 44-68, 66-37, 68-2, 84-18.

Top Pakistani cueist Imran Shahzad vanquished compatriot Muhhamad Asif 5-2 (82-39, 68-60, 70-43, 1-73, 41-68, 87-31, 53-52).

Other cueists, who made it to the last 16 round, were Peter Bullen of Belgium, Hossein Vafei Ayouri of Iran and Brendon O'Donoghue of Ireland. While Bullen beat Egypt's Wael Talaat 5-1, Ayouri thrashed Scotland's Mark Boyle 5-3.

Hong Kong's Fung Kwok Wai was overwhelmed by Brendon 2-5.