Carter among six to pull out of Indian Open snooker

New Delhi: England`s Allister Carter has become the highest ranked and sixth player to withdraw from the World Snooker Indian Open professional ranking tournament commencing here Monday.

World No.15 Carter, the 2013 German Masters champion, was scheduled to play the winner of Wild Card round match between India`s Kamal Chawla and Rod Lawler. The others who have pulled out of the 300,000 pounds tournament are Tony Drago, Yu Delu, Anthony Hamilton, David Gilbert and Kyren Wilson. The reasons for the withdrawals could not be immediately ascertained, but as per professional snooker regulations, a pullout attracts a penalty of 250 pounds. World No.1 Neil Robertson of Australia is heading the 64-player main draw while Pankaj Advani, ranked 70, and Aditya Mehta (72) lead the Indian challenge that also includes six wild card qualifiers - Manan Chandra, Kamal Chawla, Dharmender Lilly, Shivam Arora, Sandeep Gulati and Faisal Khan. Meanwhile, the tournament venue, Le Meridien, was a hive of activity with the four match tables being readied while three practice tables in the adjoining hall were in use by players who have started to arrive in the Capital.