IBSF World Snooker Championship 2009

IBSF World Snooker Championship 2009

News & Updates

REPORT OF 19.11.2009

Twice Asian Snooker champion and one of the finest exponent of Indian Snooker, Yasin Merchant blazed the green baize with a scintillating total clearance break of 134, highest so far in the tournament, in the opening frame against Muhammed Asif of Pakistan in the men’s category of the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker Championship 2009 being held in Hall 3 of Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad.

Though the motley crowd that gathered here to cheer up the Indian maestro went berserk with this massive break, Yasin was not at all ecstatic about it. When asked, Yasin replied that though the break was a good effort, but he is not happy about his overall performance which lacked consistency. The remark obviously reminds one about his insatiable desire for high breaks as well as consistent performance be it in the National or International level. Yasin eventually won the match 4-1.

In an another match, former IBSF World Snooker champion, Pankaj Advani of India maintained his all-win record in his group by defeating fellow countrymen Sandeep Gulati by 4-1.

The magical spell of Alfie Burden of England continued as he once again delighted the crowd by unfolding a vast repertoire of strokes executed with gossamer touch against Rupesh Shah of India. A break of 83 in the first, 66 in the fourth and a overall compact play did not allow Shah to put-up any resistance and he bowed down feebly 0-4.

The Indian born Ajeya Prabhakar of USA pulled off a big surprise as he stretched Mohd. Shehab of UAE, a gold medalist in the 2007 Asian Indoor Games before bowing down by 3-4 in the decider. Tied at 2-2, a break of 109 by Shehab, however, did not affect Prabhakar as he snatched the next frame to level the proceeding.

In the ladies segment, four times National Snooker Champion, Vidya Pillai exhibited a near perfect snooker as she demolished Kathy Howden of Australia in straight frames. This straight win gave her the coveted top spot in the knock-out draw.

Besides Vidya, the other Indian lady players who qualified for the knock-out round of 16 are Anuja Chandra, Meenal Thakur, Chitra M. and Neena Praveen.

In masters category, former World and Asian Champion Chuchart T. of Thailand showed classical touch as he brushed aside K. Ranjan of India by straight frames with a well compiled break of 61 in the last frame.

Exhibiting copy book cueing and rhythm, former IBSF World Snooker champion Darren Morgan of England had no difficulty to stave off the challenge posed by Hitesh Naran of South Africa by 3-1.

The search for the ‘sweet spot’ continued for the bellwether of the Indian master’s team Geet Sethi who although warded off the effort of Ayyoub Alsharrah of Kuwait by 3-1 yet looked not too joyous with his success.

The knock-out matches for all the categories will commence from tomorrow.