Bengaluru, Nov 28: China's 14-year-old Yan Bingtao broke Indian hearts by defeating title favourite Pankaj Advani 6-4 to storm into the men's semi-finals at the IBSF World Snooker Championships here Friday.
In a manner of speaking, the 29-year-old Advani, who came into the tournament as holder of 12 World titles and a hot favourite, virtually gifted the match to the Chinese prodigy who bounced back after trailing 0-2 with a break of 107 in the third frame and went on to win a tight match.
'I was repeatedly distracted'
"I was repeatedly distracted by movements in the crowd. I know that as a professional, I should not allow these distractions to impact my game, but today, it did. Also, I missed too many balls and did not utilise the chances that came my way," said Advani.
"I didn't score heavily enough to hurt my opponent. Bingtao also did not play too well but capitalised on the chances I gave him. The bottom line was that I didn't play well and didn't deserve to win."
There was little to separate Advani and Bingtao. The Indian took a 2-0 lead with a break of 57 in the second frame but Bingtao came roaring back to take the third on a run of 107 as the Chinese won three frames in a row for a 3-2 lead before Advani caught up at 3-3.
A break of 79 gave Bingtao the seventh frame but again Advani levelled by taking a close eighth. Thereafter, both players were tense and committed too many errors but the young Chinese kept his wits about him to go 5-4 up.
Advani had his chances in the crucial 10th frame, especially at the business end when he was on a clearance to make it 5-5 but a miss on the brown which he attempted with a stun-follow shot to come for the blue, left Bingtao on and the Chinese gobbled up the colours to seal the match.
With BV Srinivasa Murthy and Rafat Habib also losing their respective quarter-finals in the Masters (Over 40) section, the Indian challenge in the tournament ended.
Results (Indians unless mentioned)
MEN - Quarter-finals: Muhammad Sajjad (PAK) bt Manan Chandra 6-1; Zhao Xintong (CHN) bt Adrian Ridley (AUS) 6-4; Yan Bingtao (CHN) bt Pankaj Advani 6-4; Kritsanut Lertsattayathom (THA) bt Amir Sarkhosh (IRN) 6-3.
WOMEN - Quarter-finals: Wendy Jans (BEL) bt Chitra Magimairajan 4-1; Ng On Yee (HK) bt Siripaporn Nuanthakhamjan (THA) 4-0; Daria Sirotina (RUS) bt Siraphat Chitchomnart (THA) 4-0; Anasthasia Nachaeva (RUS) bt Ka Kai Wan (HK) 4-0.
MASTERS - Quarter-finals: Darren Morgan (WAL) bt B.V. Srinivasa Murthy 4-0; Phisit Chandsri (THA) bt Choon Kiat Tey (SIN) 4-0; Craig MacGillvray (SCO) bt Noel Rodrigues Moreira (BRA) 4-3; Chuchart Trirattanapradit (THA) bt Rafat Habib 4-3.
IANS