Pankaj Advani enters World Billiards quarters

Leeds: Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani continued to surge ahead in the World Billiards Championship (time format), making a smooth entry into the quarter-finals after humbling compatriot Alok Kumar, here on Tuesday.

Advani, who has already pocketed the 150-up points format title, has been in top form even in the longer format as the Bangalore cueist breezed past Kumar 1783-457 in the last-16 encounter.

With breaks of 135, 118, 701, 575 and 85, Advani, winner of 11 world titles, mesmerised the audience with his supreme play on the green baize as the 29-year-old got the highest break of the tournament (701) so far.

Giving Advani company in the last-eight battle, will be four more Indian cueists in Rupesh Shah, Devendra Joshi, Balachandra Bhaskar and Dhruv Sitwala.

It was heartbreak for Sourav Kothari and Aditya Agarwal, whose winning run was broken in the pre-quarterfinals.

Kolkata's Sourav, son of former world champion and national coach Manoj Kothari, was edged out by top Singapore cueist Peter Gilchrist while Aditya was outplayed by David Causier of England.

Results:

Pankaj Advani bt Alok Kumar 1783-457, Rupesh Shah bt Phil Mumford (England) 952-490, Devendra Joshi bt Steve Brookshah (Eng) 1266-775, B.Bhaskar bt Robin Wilson (Eng), Dhruv Sitwala bt Ashok Shandilya 679-616, David Causier bt Aditya Agarwal 1702-452, Peter Gilchrist(Singapore) bt Sourav Kothari 761-701.