Damani, Mifsud enter knockout stages

Bangalore: India`s Brijesh Damani registered his third straight win of the tournament to join Australian legend Steve Mifsud and Saleh Mohammad of Afghanistan in the knockout stage of IBSF World Snooker Championship on Wednesday.

Damani, a late entrant into the championship, did not face any problems in his 4-0 dismantling of New Zealand`s Garry Gillard in a Group L tie. Damani outplayed the Kiwi cueist, who had lost all his previous three matches, 55-11, 104-16, 85-14, 65-37 to advance to the knockout stage which starts with the round of 32 from tomorrow. A confident-looking Damani had pulled off wins against Scotland`s Craig Macgillivray (4-3) and Cyprus` Antonis Poulos (4-1) in his previous two matches. In another Group K round-robin tie, Mifsud stamped his class when he crushed Ukrainian rival Sergiy Isyenko 4-0 to storm into the knockout stage. Mifsud was awarded the initial frame when Isyenko arrived late for the match. He won the following three frames 80-1, 62-17 and 67-60. Mifsud had vanquished his opponents Ali Abd Mohsin of Iraq 4-0 and Mohammed Al Joaker of United Arab Emirates 4-0 in his previous two encounters. Another cueist who booked his berth in the knockout stage was Afghanistan`s Saleh Mohammad who beat India`s H Manudev 4-2 in an enthralling Group G encounter. He won 73-0, 33-65, 66-18, 83-4, 0-87 and 69-58. PTI