Aditya Mehta, Advani and Damani advance to knockouts at World Cup of Snooker

Aditya Mehta defeated former world champion Muhammad Asif 3-1 to top Group R at the World Cup of Snooker in Muscat. Pankaj Advani, Brijesh Damani and Hussain Khan also advanced to the knockouts, keeping India’s campaign strong

Hyderabad: India’s former professional Aditya Mehta outclassed former IBSF World champion Muhammad Asif in his final league match of the World Cup of Snooker in Muscat on Monday.

The 40-year-old Mumbaikar scored a comfortable 3-1 win over the Pakistani cueist to top the four-player Group ‘R’ with an all-win record and book his berth in the round of 32.

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Three other Indians – Pankaj Advani, Brijesh Damani and Hussain Khan – also moved into the knockouts. Like Aditya, Advani and Damani topped their respective groups.

Aditya, a former World Games gold medallist, was on song from the start. He rifled in a gritty break of 77 in the opening frame. Asif restored parity with a fighting 55 in the second frame.

However, the Indian ace regrouped quickly and rifled in a silken-smooth 117 in the third frame of the best-of-five league clash. Aditya capitalised on another Asif error in the fourth and constructed a frame-clinching break of 48.

Damani, meanwhile, floored the formidable Habib Sabah of Bahrain 3-0 in his final Group ‘J’ match. The Kolkatan warmed up for the business end of the tournament with runs of 94 and 99.

Advani topped Group ‘M’ for the loss of just one frame. The three-time IBSF World champion defeated Hong Kong China’s Chang Yu Kiu 3-1 in his final league encounter.

Hussain had earlier defeated Poland’s Tomasz Skalski 3-2 in a must-win game to finish second behind the Pole in Group ‘K’.