Advani, Tirapongpaiboon among those unbeaten on Day One

Thailand’s Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon continued from where he had left going unbeaten in his group matches on Day One of the 1st ACBS Asian Tour 10 Red Championship at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Hall yesterday.Tirapongpaiboon had won the Asian 6 Red Championship at the same venue on Tuesday, beating Pakistan’s Mohamed Bilal 7-3.Yesterday, the 25-year-old began his day with a 4-0 win over Qatar’s Mhanaa al-Obaidli before easing past Iran’s Ehsan Heydari Nezhad 4-1.Bilal was up against former professional snooker player Darren Morgan in his Group B match but eventually fell short as the Welshman edged him out for a 4-3 win.After five frames, 52-year-old Morgan had been 3-2 up but Bilal forced the decider taking the sixth frame with a 44-point break.However, Morgan came up with a crucial 42-point break of his own to win the frame 54-4 and stay unbeaten in the group, having brushed aside the challenge by India’s Varun Madan 4-1 in the morning session.Others to win both their group matches on the first day of the competition included India’s 19-time world champion Pankaj Advani, Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh and Chinese teenager Wu Yize.Advani, finalist in the Asian Team Snooker Championship along with compatriot Manan Chandra last week, opened his campaign in the tournament with a 4-1 win over Qatar’s Mohsen Bukshaisha.Advani raced into a 3-0 lead in the match, armed with a 95-point break in the third frame, against Bukshaisha, who was the only host player to reach the quarter-finals in the 6 Red competition earlier this week.A 70-point break helped Bukshaisha pull one back but a 46-point break from Advani in the fifth frame took the game away.Nineteen-year-old Cheung Ka Wai of Hong Kong pushed Advani in a thrilling Group A roup match later in the day when he took a 3-1 lead with two 50-plus breaks.However, Advani’s experience meant that the Indian fought back to take the next three frames for a fine victory.Qatar’s Ahmed Saif bounced back well after losing the first frame against Iran’s Amir Sarkhosh restoring parity in the match with an 86-point break. Saif then took the third frame taking a 2-1 lead.However, Sarkhosh fought back with a 99-point break in the fourth frame and a 54-point break in the fifth, before wrapping the game up 4-2.Egypt’s Mohamed Ibrahim was the only player to stitch together a century break on the first day of the tournament in his victory over Qatar’s Ali al-Obaidli. However, in his second match, he was brushed aside by Ireland’s Brendan O’Donoghue 4-0.Pakistan’s Babar Masih, part of the Asian Team Snooker Championship-winning team along with compatriot Mohamed Asif, blanked Myanmar’s Aung Phyo 4-0 yesterday. It was Phyo’s second defeat of the day, having lost to Andrew Pagett 1-4 earlier in the day.