Kuala Lumpur, Oct 1: India’s leading cueist Pankaj Advani has qualified for the knockout stage of the World 6-Red Snooker Championship after registering wins in all group matches here. Advani defeated Mohamed Emeesh of Libya 4-0 in the morning session, before getting the better off Enkhtuvshin Bat-Ochir of Mongolia 4-1 in the evening session on the opening day of the competition on Thursday. On Saturday, Advani beat Loh Chung Leong of Malaysia 4-2 in another group B match. The Indian was leading 2-0 and then Loh took two frames to level the match but Advani sealed the next two frames to close the proceedings. His frame score against Loh Chung Leong was 34-26, 37-01, 24-38, 19-47, 32-20, 41-10. Advani will face Lim Kok Leong in the last 32 stage on Sunday. Besides Advani and Laxman, Dhvaj Haria, Kamal Chawla and S Shrikrishna have also made it to the last 32. Laxman had a qualifying match against Sri Lankan player Thaha Irshath where he took a 3-0 lead by winning almost one-sided frames. Laxman will meet Habib Sabah of Bahrain in last 32 on Sunday. Among other Indians, Dhvaj Haria will face Chang Yu Kiu of Hong Kong, S Shrikrishna is pitted against Iraq’s Ali Hussein and Kamal Chawla takes on Poramin Danjirakul of Thailand in the knockout stage. (PTI)
