The Hindu : Sport : David Donavan steals the show

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006

Sport

Sport

David Donavan steals the show

Geet Sethi

Prestatyn: With the last of 300 round robin matches completed late on Monday night, the wheat has been separated from the chaff here at the Pontins Resort in Prestatyn, the venue of the 2006 IBSF World snooker Grand Prix. The 32 cueists who have made it to the knock out stage were re-seeded on the basis of the number of wins and frame differentials with top billing going to David Donavan of Wales and the second spot to India's Pankaj Advani, who won all the matches in his group D.

By Monday evening all the three Indian participants namely Advani, Alok Kumar and Aditya Mehta had cemented their respective berths in the last 32. Mehta, who finds himself in the top half romped home to a remarkable 5-3 victory over fancied Jamie Jones in a high quality last 32 contest early on Tuesday. The Mumbai based cueist playing with cautious precision built up a comforting 3-0 advantage clinching the second frame 63-54 on the pink and dominated the third 67-6 with the aid of a 42.

Aggressive tactics

With a 3-0 advantage in a best of nine encounter, Mehta perhaps relaxed just that little bit and was soon startled by the ferocity of his opponent's response. Jones who was the 2004 European under - 19 champion and is on the verge of clinching berth in the professional main tour, reeled off breaks of 84 & 74 in the fourth and fifth frames allowing the Indian to compile only 24 points in two frames.

Against such a spirited comeback it is a challenge to retain focus and more significantly a bigger challenge to keep reins on one's fraying nerves. Due credit must therefore be given to the 20 year old for maintaining his composure to win two of the next three frames for the match and a place in the last 16 where he will meet the winner of top seed David Doonavan and Scotland's Callam Niven.

Advani is slated to play Po-Hsien Lee of Chinese Taipei, the cueist who he defeated 4-1 late last night in his last group match. The draw has thrown up one disheartening element from the Indian perspective. If Alok Kumar who plays Mark Joyce wins his opening knock out match he will run into Advani in the last 16 presuming of course that Advani comes through unscathed.

Last 32 results (best of 9 frames):

Aditya Mehta (India) bt Jamie Jones (Wales) 70-38, 63-54, 67-6, 8-108(84), 16-74(74), 74-15, 59-61, 71-03.

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