Indian players make strong progress at IBSF World Snooker Championships

Hyderabad: After struggling to adapt to the conditions in the first event, Dhvajj Haria, the reigning National 6-Red Snooker champion, bounced back to reach the second stage of the IBSF World Snooker Championships at the Yeshwant Club in Indore on Sunday.

Haria defeated fellow Indian Vijay Nichani 4-0 to join four other compatriots who had qualified from the second event late on Saturday. The others to make the grade were Rayaan Razmi, Paras Gupta, Uzair Khan and Dhruv Patel.

On Sunday evening, Laxman Rawat, a former World 6-Red Snooker champion, progressed with a 4-2 win over Hrithik Jain in the third event to become the 12th Indian to advance to the next stage.

Six Indians had qualified from the first event on Friday.

Haria’s third-round match was not as easy as the scoreline might suggest, as he was forced into a hard-fought battle against his determined rival. The 33-year-old from Ahmedabad took the opening frame on the black before doubling his lead on the pink in the next.

Having found his rhythm and range, the tall southpaw produced a frame-clinching break of 52 in the third frame before closing out the match in the fourth by keeping his rival on a tight leash.

In-form Razmi, who, like Haria, had missed out in the first event, came good the second time around to advance to the next stage. After losing to Kreishh Gurbaxani in the final round of the first event, Razmi defeated compatriot Kanishk Jhanjaria 4-0.

Razmi, winner of the billiards gold medal at the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships last month, reduced his errors and relied on a percentage game to power past Jhanjaria.

Uzair, meanwhile, had to dig deep to edge out Filipino Michael Mengorio 4-3. Trailing 1-3 in the best-of-seven-frame encounter, Uzair rallied in splendid fashion to win the next three frames and secure his place in the second stage.

Select results (Stage 1, second event; Indians unless mentioned):

Round 3: Rayaan Razmi bt Kanishk Jhanjaria 4-0 (65-2, 55-35, 71-16, 62 (54)-19); Uzair Khan bt Michael Mengorio (Phi) 4-3 (6-89, 59-69, 67-36, 47-70, 60-48, 65-38, 50-40); Paras Gupta bt Sami Al Hamrashdi (Oman) 4-1 (71-40, 78-33, 65-9, 58-64, 68-37); Langyi Ryan Li (HKC) bt Divya Sharma 4-0 (59-32, 94-12, 71-4, 103 (103)-0); Dhvajj Haria bt Vijay Nichani 4-0 (64-57, 66-48, 92 (54)-41, 65-43); Ali Hussein (Iraq) bt Laxman Rawat 4-3 (71-39, 46-61, 8-68, 50-38, 58-57, 16-90, 67-31); Dhruv Patel bt Omar Alajlani (KSA) 4-3 (64-31, 0-78, 60-37, 48-87, 87 (67)-0, 57-62, 68-40).

Third event (Round 3): Laxman Rawat bt Hrithik Jain 4-2 (55-46, 54-66, 48-58, 51-26, 82-58, 76-0).