Eight Indians enter knock-out stage of IBSF World Snooker

Daugapils (Latvia): Manan Chandra and Vidya Pillai, along with six other Indian cueists, have qualified for the knock-out stage of the IBSF World Snooker Championships here.

While 2006 edition bronze medallist Chandra qualified as his group topper, winning five of his six league matches, Brijesh Damani and Shahbaz Adil Khan also managed to sneak into the knock-out phase with similar 5-3 win-loss record. In the women`s section, two-time bronze medallist and five-time national champion Vidya Pillai joined her male compatriots in the next round with a dominating 3-0 win over Malta`s Roberta Cutajar for her sixth win in as many matches to top the group. She will be joined by Arantxa Sanchis, Varsha Sanjeev, Chitra Magimairajan and Neena Praveen, who beat Belaur`s Yana Shut 3-0 for her fourth win in six matches, in the knock-out round. The Indian women cueists have been placed in the bottom half of the draw, which means only one out of them will advance to the semi-finals. Chitra will take on Neena in the Round of 32 and the winner will meet Vidya in the Round of 16. Varshaa will lock horns against Kathy Howden and the winner will play Sanchis in the pre-quarters. In the Masters category (above 40), India`s Nigel Lazer advanced to the next round.