Kuala Lumpur: Star cueist Pankaj Advani and defending champion Laxman Rawat were among the six Indians to qualify for the knockout stage of the World 6-Red Snooker Championship here.
Besides Advani and Laxman, Dhvaj Haria, Kamal Chawla and S Shrikrishna have also made it to the last 32.
Advani won all the four group stage matches with a scoreline 4-0, 4-1, 4-1, 4-2 and secured top position in his group. However, the other Indian players qualified for the knock-out stage after finishing second in their respective groups.
The 37-year-old from Pune defeated Mohamed Emeesh of Libya 4-0 in the morning session, before getting the better off Enkhtuvshin Bat-Ochir of Mongolia 4-1 in the evening session on the opening day of the competition on Thursday.
On Saturday, Advani beat Loh Chung Leong of Malaysia 4-2 in another group B match.
Advani took a 2-0 lead against Loh but the Malaysian surprised him and took away two frames to level the match but then the Indian tightened the string and sealed the next two frames to close the proceedings.
His frame score against Loh Chung Leong was 34-26, 37-01, 24-38, 19-47, 32-20, 41-10.
Advani will face Lim Kok Leong in the last 32 stage on Sunday.
Laxman had a qualifying match against Sri Lankan player Thaha Irshath where he took a 3-0 lead by winning almost one-sided frames. Thaha managed to win the fourth frame but the Indian won the fifth frame to close the proceedings 4-1 (58-12, 35-14, 41-00, 21-33, 41-05).
Laxman will meet Habib Sabah of Bahrain in last 32 on Sunday.
Among other Indians, Dhvaj Haria will face Chang Yu Kiu of Hong Kong, S Shrikrishna is pitted against Iraq’s Ali Hussein and Kamal Chawla takes on Poramin Danjirakul of Thailand in the knockout stage.
PTI
