Meenal Thakur in quarterfinals of World Snooker

By Anand Philar, Hyderabad, Nov 20: National champion Meenal Thakur saw off a spirited challenge from her younger sister Anuja Chandra for a 4-3 decision and progressed to the quarter-finals in the women's section of the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker championship, here Friday.

In a hard-fought match, the 30-year-old Meenal from Mumbai, led 2-0, but Anuja fought back to make it 2-2 before trailing 2-3 and then leveling at 3-3. In the decider, Meenal, aided by small breaks, took control to clinch the match that was spread over two sessions.

Incidentally, Meenal had beaten Anuja 3-2 in the semi-finals of the National Championship in Agra recently.

Also entering the quarter-finals was Chitra Magimairaj who scored a 4-2 win over Nicha Pathom of Thailand in a long drawn out match.

"When it became 3-2, I was very nervous, but in the end, managed to hang on to win. Yes, I am very relieved," said Chitra, a quarter-finalist in the 2003 edition, her previous World championship.

Hong Kong had a profitable day as 19-year-old Ng On Yee, Jaique Ip and So Man Yan qualified for the quarter-finals. On Yee defeated compatriot Yu Ching Ching 4-2 while Yan crushed Tailand's Santhinee Jaisuekal 4-0 and Ip came through 4-0 against Kathy Howden of Australia.

India's Neena Praveen had no answer to the all-round game of Bi Zhuqing of China who won 4-1 in another pre-quarter-final match.

Later, top seed Alok Kumar, the former Asian and National champion, put in another solid performance to enter the round of 32 in the men's section with an easy 4-0 win against compatriot Faisal Khan.

Alok Kumar, the 41-year old from Punjab, was in a cruise-control mode as it were with Khan clearly out of depth against an opponent who carried far too much experience.

Up next for Alok is compatriot Yasin Merchant, the 42-year-old from Mumbai, who scraped through 4-3 against New Zealand's Chris Maltby, but was far from pleased with his performance.

"I was lucky that a three-red clearance in the last frame pulled me through."

On showpiece table, Pankaj Advani survived two black ball frames to come through 4-0 against Scotland's Bobby Cruickshanks who had his chances to stretch the title favourite, but committed errors on the colours.

"I played well in the first two frames, but got lucky in the next two. In the third frame, he missed the last black and left me on. It was a long black and I thought I played well to pot that colour. In the fourth, he went in-off on the black and that put me in control," said Advani, the 24-year old Bangalorean.

Advani next meets Anthony Brabin of Cyprus, a 4-3 winner against India No.2 Sourav Kothari who blew a 3-1 lead.

In a surprise result, 30-year-old Kamal Chawla from Bhopal ousted the experienced Ahmedabad-based former National champion Rupesh Shah 4-1 in an all-India clash to also advance to the round of 32.

In the Masters category, Geet Sethi, along with three other Indians - B.V. Srinivasa Murthy, K. Ranjan and Devendra Joshi - made it to the pre-quarter-finals.

Sethi, following his 4-0 win over compatriot H Kamaraj, set up an intriguing battle with Thailand's Chuchart Trirattanapradip who knocked out SA Saleem 4-1.

Bangalore-based Murthy, the two-times National champion, was an impressive 4-1 winner over Ireland's Joe Delaney to line-up a clash with Thailand's Noppadon Noppachom who eliminated Paul Thomerson of Australia 4-2.

Meanwhile, Chennai's Ranjan got past Cheung Leung Sing of Hong Kong-China with a 4-1 verdict and will next meet former champion Darren Morgan of Wales who ran out a 4-0 winner against Germany's Frank Schroder.

Joshi, the Bharat Petroelum officer from Mumbai, overcame Ahmad Altarkait of Kuwait 4-1, but on the receiving end was local challenger K.Venkatesham, once a promising junior, who lost 0-4 to Ron Jones of Wales.