Chee Keong Chan scores an upset win over former World No. 3 Manan Chandra

Defending champion Pankaj Advani continued his smooth run at the 2016 IBSF World Snooker championship yesterday.
At the Al Sadd indoor arena, the Indian cueist won his fourth straight match with a convincing win over Hamed Zarehdoost of Iran 4-0. Advani has already confirmed his berth for the knockout stage.
In fact he is yet to lose a frame in the tournament, while winning 16 frames so far in his convincing victories. If he maintains this momentum, Advani will acquire the top-seed slot for the knockouts. After reaching the knockout stages the tournament generally becomes more cut-throat, where momentum rather than form is just as crucial to potential glory. So Advani will be only tested in knockouts.
The Indian has returned as the defending champion having not accepted his invitation to rejoin the professional circuit. The 31-year-old Advani, hugely popular in his homeland, could very feasibly survive on the Main Tour but seems more content with the odd stab at amateur snooker tournaments in support of dominating the billiards scene.
There are a host of talented players from all over the globe in search of the title, and with it a likely ticket onto the lucrative Main Tour.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s cueists had a mixed day. Bashar Abdulmajeed held his nerve and converted the deciding frame to win his match against Brazil’s Thadeu Nobres 4-3. The entire match swung like a pendulum where both cueists won the alternate frames. But in the end, Bashar delivered the killer blow as he won 80-07 to emerge victorious.
However, Ali al-Obaidli had no such luck. The Qatar player dominated the initial stages of his match against former World Champion Muhammad Asif of Pakistan but failed to convert that into victory as he lost 3-4. Al-Obaidli was leading 3-1 and had a cushion of 56 break points.
But Asif used his experience and bounced back in style to pocket the next three frames in a commanding way to register 4-3 win.
Asif did not concede a single ball to Al-Obaidli in 5th frame and won 72-0. That frame just gave him a breathing space as the Pakistani continued with the same zeal in remaining frames and posted an impressive break of 72 in the final frame to walk away with a crucial win.
In other matches, Qatar’s A. Mohsin al-Abdulrahman got past Paul Smyth of Isle of Man easily 4-0 but Abdullah al-suwaidi lost his match 0-4 to Mohammed al-shamsi of United Arab Emirates. Another local player, Mohammad al-Binali had a good day as he beat Andrej Maksimov of Lithuania 4-0
Meanwhile, Chee Keong Chan of Singapore scored an upset win over former World No.3 Manan Chandra of India as he kept his hopes alive of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Chan made his intentions clear from the very first frame where he posted a break of 51 points not only to cover his trail but to win that narrowly. He continued the same dominance in next frame too and gained two frames lead.
However, Chandra recovered with a break of 78 points to cut the deficit to 1-2. The Indian was gaining his control back but on his score of 44 points in fourth frame he failed to place a proper snooker properly. Chan immediately grabbed that opportunity and posted another recovery break of 69 to win the frame and enhance his lead further to 3-1. Although Chandra pulled back next two frames to come at par but Chan held his nerve better in the decider and caused an upset.
Chinese sensation Yuan Sijun thrashed Irish player Jason Devaney in a one-sided contest. Yuan crafted three breaks of 89, 53 and 56 in first three frames leaving Devaney way behind. He won the fourth frame too convincingly as he booked his placed in the in the knockout stage of Last-78. Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan’s 17-year-old cuiest Mukhamed Karimberdi Uulu confirmed his berth for the knockout stage. Uulu has already won two matches out of three and yesterday he beat Epaminondas Pouris of Cyprus in a one-sided affair 4-0.
Over 250 players from 55 countries are competing in the IBSF World Snooker championship, which is being held concurrently for men, women and masters. The 10-day tournament will end on November 29. A total of $16,000 is up for grabs in the men’s event of the championship, being hosted for the first time in the GCC.
The women’s event carries a $6,000 purse while $8,000 is at stake for the master players. The winner of the championship highest break in the men’s category will receive $500 cash reward plus certificate. For women, the highest break will fetch $200 and for the masters’ $300.