Siddharth Parikh stages comeback to enter quarterfinals of World Billiards Championship
Siddharth Parikh staged a fine comeback win over Peter Sheehan to enter the quarterfinals of the IBSF World Billiards Championship, while Pankaj Advani, Sourav Kothari and Shrikrishna S also progressed with dominant performances in Carlow
Hyderabad: India’s Siddharth Parikh rallied splendidly to put it across fourth-seeded Peter Sheehan in the pre-quarterfinals of the IBSF World Billiards Championship in Carlow (Ireland) on Monday.
The 45-year-old Mumbaikar’s come-from-behind 575-508 victory set up a quarterfinal meeting with fifth seed Robert Hall later in the day. Hall outclassed former champion Mike Russell 882-258 at an adjacent table.
Down 331-477 with about 35 minutes remaining, Parikh found the opening he was looking for. Sheehan missed a forcing red in-off to the bottom right-hand pocket, and Parikh latched on to the opportunity to construct a gritty break of 126 to reduce the margin.
The Indian cueist, a two-time bronze medallist, then punished another Sheehan error, who missed a cannon off the side cushion, with a match-winning break of 82.
Elsewhere, favourite Pankaj Advani, given the top billing after the reseeding for the knockouts, demolished fellow Indian Rafath Habib, predominantly a snooker player, 951-283 to sail into the quarters. He meets Martin Goodwill, a 497-319 victor over Alok Kumar, later in the day.
Reigning champion Sourav Kothari, who suffered a defeat in his final league match, found his rhythm and range in the last-16 clash against the formidable Dhruv Sitwala, scoring a lopsided 701-211 victory. He reduced the southpaw to a mere spectator with runs of 176, 198 and 175. He next takes on the in-form David Causier. The Englishman demolished South Korea’s Baek Minhu 1517-158, which included two mammoth breaks of 611 and 558.
In a late evening match, India’s Shrikrishna S scored a shock 604-357 win over former champion Peter Gilchrist. Shrikrishna, a former junior World champion, meets fellow Indian Dhvaj Haria next.
Results (Indians unless mentioned): Pre-quarterfinals: Pankaj Advani 951 (192, 56, 143, 139, 73, 105, 52) bt Rafath Habib 283 (50); Martin Goodwill (Eng) 497 (176, 95) bt Alok Kumar 319 (68); Robert Hall (Eng) 882 (75, 221, 82, 65, 224, 114) bt Mike Russell (Eng) 258 (93, 66); Siddharth Parikh 575 (83, 71, 126, 82) bt Peter Sheehan (Eng) 508 (98, 158, 54, 91).
Sourav Kothari 701 (176, 198, 175) bt Dhruv Sitwala 211 (55, 71); Shrikrishna S 604 (140, 206, 81, 85) bt Peter Gilchrist (Sin) 357 (90, 113, 111); Dhvaj Haria 745 (103, 82, 84, 122, 171) bt Rupesh Shah 293 (61, 88, 61); David Causier (Eng) 1517 (611, 93, 71, 88, 57, 558) bt Baek Minhu (Kor) 158 (84).