World snooker enters crucial stage

By Anand Philar, Hyderabad, Nov 21 : Over the next few days, the chaff will be separated from the grain and the men from the boys as the ONGC-IBSF World snooker championship flows into the "business end" Sunday.

Although Saturday was designated as a rest day in the 10-day competition that attracted about 200 players from 60 countries, Friday night's postponed 7 pm session was played out this morning, leaving remainder of the day free.

With the competition hotting up, England's Alfie Burden, who intends to return to the professional fold in the coming weeks, has emerged as the hot favourite, ahead of even India's own Pankaj Advani, the 24-year old Bangalorean who had won the title in 2003. More so since he is in the bottom half of the draw and given the form he is in, the Londoner is expected to have a smooth ride to the final.

The home advantage seems to be working well for the Indians with as many as nine men making it to the round of 32. Realistically, either top seed Alok Kumar or Yasin Merchant, who face each other next, and Advani, who look the best bet to carry the Indian hopes.

However, the three Indians are in the same half of the draw that also includes the dangerous Chinese Tian Pengfei and Yu Delu who are expected to meet clash in the pre-quarter-finals.

Though one cannot discount the likes of Manan Chandra and Aditya Mehta who are placed in the bottom half of the draw, neither has shown the kind of form to evoke as much optimism as say Advani or Alok or Merchant do, but they have the ability and potential to deliver.

The other Indians still in the running are Girish Rajasekar, very much a rookie though he is 30 years old, local challenger Lucky Vatnani, still a greenhorn at this level, 35-year old Bangalorean IH Manudev and Kamal Chawla from Bhopal, who is lacking in international experience. Should any of them even make it to the quarter-finals, it should be considered as a huge bonus.

Barring Alok, none of the Indians, including Advani, have been consistent and are prone to distraction as per their own admission. Though Advani feels his best is yet to come, he needs to focus far more, something he is confident of as the tournament progresses.

"My mind tends to wander, but I am confident of getting into the groove. It is good to have a few tough matches going into the knock-out and I hope to improve," said Advani.

The seeding for the knock-out rounds is based on the frame average at the conclusion of the league phase and the rule benefitted Alok as he dropped just two in five matches to get the top billing.

In the women's section, only two - National champion Meenal Thakur and Chitra Magimairaj - of the five Indians who qualified for the knockout stage, have made it to the quarter-finals. Both face a difficult task with Meenal taking on Kathy Parashis of Australia who is on a high after putting out top seed Vidya Pillai of India last night, and Chitra facing Ramona Belmont of New Zealand.

Considering the overall performance so far, 19-year old Ng On Yee of Hong Kong-China, compatriot Jaique Ip and China's Bi Zhuqing, appear to be the front-runners for the title.

The competition for the Masters title has all but narrowed down to three players - Geet Sethi, Dene O'Kane of New Zealand and Welshman Darren Morgan. While Sethi and defending champion O'Kane could possibly meet in the semi-finals, Morgan, winner of the men's title in 1987 and Masters crown in 2007, and placed in the bottom half of the draw, should go all the way to the final.

The three Indians in Morgan's half, BV Srinivasa Murthy, Devendra Joshi and K Ranjan, will have to play out of their skins from here on to move closer to the title.

Thus, the days ahead are likely to dish out some exciting and quality snooker befitting the occasion and as Burden said, the winner would have earned the title.