SNOOKER
Selby books place in next round
HANIF HASSAN
 Peter Ebdon in action against Stuart Pettman en route to his 5-3 loss. |
Former world professional champion Peter Ebdon's unbeaten run in the SangSom 6-red Snooker International came to a halt as he failed to overcome the last hurdle, falling 5-3 to fellow Englishman Stuart Pettman yesterday afternoon. Ebdon had been in touch in the tournament at the Montien Riverside Hotel until his last first round encounter.
While the upshot had little impact on Ebdon's march into the knockout stages, it did assure Pettman of a place in the next round. Pettman had improved his chances of with a 5-0 hammering of Au Chi Wai of Hong Kong in the morning and he carried the same form to his Group B encounter with Ebdon.
Top seed and world No. 4 Mark Selby also recovered from his defeat to Jimmy White on Wednesday, as he recorded two straight wins yesterday to move into the last 32 round, which will be played today, as the top-ranked qualifier from Group A.
Selby played with ease as he defeated 2008 Asian Championship runner- up Aditya Mehta of India 5-2 and then went on to beat Thailand's No. 1 Issara Kachaiwong 5-3 in his last two first round matches.
The other qualifiers from the group were White, Mehta and Martin Gould, No. 63, of England. Issara failed to qualify for the second stage.
Despite the fact that there were still a few matches to go in Group C, former world professional champion Ken Doherty, who has had an indifferent tournament so far, Mark Davis, Thailand's Supoj Saenla and Chan Kwok Ming of Hong Kong were all set to march into the last 32 round.
Thai ace cueist Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm, a former world No. 3, was also assured of a place in the next round from Group D, which is topped by Joe Swail, No. 20, from Northern Ireland.
With young Tom Ford of England making his presence felt, it was not certain if Ratchapol would qualify as the No. 2 or 3-ranked player from the group.
Saleh Mohammed of Pakistan, whose maximum of 75 points in only two minutes and 54 seconds is so far the fastest of the tournament, was looking at stealing the top spot in Group E ahead of world No. 21 Stuart Bingham, No. 43 Mike Dunn and reigning IBSF world champion Atthasit Mahitthi of Thailand.
World No. 23 Nigel Bond, No. 45 Jimmy Michie, Australia's Steve Mifsud, a former winner of the IBSF world title, and the 1991 world amateur champion Noppadon Noppachorn were certain to qualify from Group F, but in Group G Thailand's Phaithoon Phonbun and Rickey Walden, No. 35, were the only two assured of places in the next round.
The situation in Group H was complex as only world No. 28 Dave Harold and Welsh player Daniel Wells had advanced.
The last 32 round matches will be competed at the same venue, starting 10 am today.
The last 16 battles are scheduled for 8 pm with trueVisions televising live one key match on its TrueSport 3 channel
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
Next
