Aditya all but beats Holt

India's lone ranger in the world professional snooker circuit, Aditya Mehta, proved he has the goods to challenge the best of the best  when coming back form 2-0 and 4-2 down to force a decider against No 26 Michael Holt in the final qualifying round of  the Honghe China Open snooker championship at Pontin's in UK. The UK player  held off his comeback and booked a clash with  No 32 Ian McColloch.

It  was a topsy turvy battle. Holt was two-up, then 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 4-all. At the score of 3-4 Holt breaks the frame and in next visit, he took a break of 59, which Aditya covered with a break of 47 and won the frame by 73-59.  In the decider Aditya was again down by 1-46 and then had led 55-46 but when he missed the yellow. Holt grabbed the chance to win. Aditya also had his moments with breaks of 61 and 45 in the 5th, and 47 in the sixth.
 

It was only the second time this season that Aditya reached the third round.

Aditya Mehta  had  a dominant 5-1 win over the struggling David Roe, No 58. For  Roe  it was a fifth first round exit from six tournaments now and his place on the tour that he has held since 1986/7.

 Results
 

Pontin's - Friday 23 January 2009