Unheralded Indian cueist Hussain Khan scored a thrilling 4-3 win over Australia’s Hassan Kerde to enter themen’s pre-quarterfinals of the IBSF World Snooker Championships on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Indian, who came through the first stage qualification, played the important points well to win his match and set up a last-16 meeting with teen sensation Michal Szubarczyk of Poland.
Earlier, India’s celebrated three-time champion Pankaj Advani bowed out of the tournament after losing 1-4 to Deng Haohui. China’s Haohui ran up a quick 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven-frame match. It spurred Advani, who replied with a break of 53 in the fourth to pull one back. However, the Chinese cueist regrouped quickly to take the next frameand march into thepre-quarterfinals.
In the women’s draw, four Indians advanced to the knockout rounds with Amee Kamani topping Group D with an all-win record to enter the last-eight stage as the second seed. The top four in the reseeding after the league phase advanced directly to the quarterfinals. Keerthana Pandian too topped her group, but finished fifth (on frame average) to make the pre-quarterfinals. Also moving into the last-16 were promising Natasha Chethan, who finished second in Group E, and Anupama Ramachandran (number 2 in Group F).
