The Hindu : Sport : Michael does a Houdini; Indian challenge ends

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 30, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport

Michael does a Houdini; Indian challenge ends

Avinash Nair

VASCO: Michael Georgiou of England did a Houdini.

Down 0-3 the English lad struck a purple patch to first draw level at 3-all and then stuttered before edging past a distraught Thor Chuan Leong of Malaysia at 5-4 to make the pre-quarterfinals of the IBSF World under-21 snooker championship in progress here at the Bogmallo Beach Resort here on Wednesday.

On a day when the Indian challenge ended, Michael showed the stuff that champions are made of.

Three frames down Michel pulled back to make it 2-3 and then trailed 10-66 in the sixth.

With Leong giving little away Michael almost conceded. However two brilliant snookers and with some long potting going his way, Michael sniffed a chance after bridging the deficit to 46-66 and cleared the last four colours in a hurry to clinch the frame 68-66.

Level 3-3 Michael was charged up but Leong was not to let things off then. With breaks off 36 and 24, Leong was up 4-3 again in the best of nine frames encounter.

It was do-or-die now and Michael was not ready to go down without a fight.

A fine 42 followed from the Englishman and the match was tied 4-4.

Going into the decider Michael shook Leong’s hands possibly wishing him well. Though cautious initially, both were wary of the other’s ability in clearing the table.

With just the colours remaining Michael was 31-35 in arrears but seized his opening with a long yellow pot which opened up the green as well.

Then on it was made to look easy and Michael was through with a 35-57, 22-65, 31-55, 66-54, 63-37, 68-66, 31-69, 69-40, 51-35 score line.

“I can’t believe it myself... am simply thrilled” said Michael after the match.

Michael runs into top-seeded Passakorn Suwannawat of Thailand in the next round.

Passakorn excels

Passakorn blanked Colvin O’Brien of Ireland 5-0 with the only noteworthy break of 82 (with three reds still on the table) coming in the fifth frame.

Shivam Arora managed to take a frame off Pramual Jantad as did Younis Kuchey off Jordon Brown (Northern Ireland) while the rest were all humbled.

Ahmed Ghulam Muanedi of Bahrain started off well against second seed Daniel Wells (Wales) with a sizzling 92 break.

But then the Welshmen gained in momentum to bring about his own break of 111 in the fourth frame to win the match 5-3.

Stephen Ellis also from Wales weathered the early brilliance of Singapore’s Lim Jia Sheng before winning 5-3.

Good show by Arantxa

Late last night there was delight and cheer for young Arantxa Sanchis.

The Pune girl now studying in Mumbai pulled off a great 3-2 win over New Zealand’s Ramonna Belmont in the league stage and make the semifinals of the ladies section.

Arantxa won 41-53, 60-55, 23-69, 73-58, 50-43.

The results:

Men (Round of 32): Passakorn Suwannawat (Thai) bt Colvin O’Brien (Ire) 5-0 (61-25, 75-17, 59-50, 60-2, 82 (82) -0).

Michael Georgiou (Eng) bt Thor Chuan Leong (Mal) 5-4 (35-57, 22-65 (60), 31-55, 66-54, 63-37, 68-66, 31-69, 69-40, 51-35).

Yu Delu (Chn) bt Matt Williams (Eng) 5-2 (86-88, 52-36, 91 (91) -0, 81 (80) -36, 72-36, 6-75, 90-10).

Kristoff Vermeiren (Bel) bt Shravan Mohta (Ind) 5-0 (57-33, 49-25, 63-33, 49-43, 53-46).

Chinnakrit Yaowannasri (Thai) bt John Loh (Mal) 5-3 (51-80, 69-22, 75 (68) -8, 91 (66) -8, 50-66, 10-85, 61-44, 57-33).

Vincent Muldoon (Ire) bt Rishabh Pandya (Ind) 5-0 (66-17, 59-38, 55-37, 67 (51) -24, 61-14).

David Hogan (Ire) bt Pushpender Singh (Ind) 5-0 (90 (78) -8, 70-31, 54-37, 88 (52)-32, 72-60).

Pramual Jantad (Thai) bt Shivam Arora (Ind) 5-1 (77-19, 38-59, 56-12, 95 (81) -6, 79-25, 71-12).

Moh Keen Hoo (Mal) bt Hussein Mahmod (Bah) 5-0 (64-24, 59-17, 81-25, 60-40, 68-29).

Robbie Williams (Eng) bt David Meier-Bailey (NZ) 5-0 (67-11, 56-45, 61-14, 83-13, 51-11).

Li Hang (Chn) bt Joeri Reisig (Ned) 5-0 (52-38, 62-54, 60-37, 97-15, 105 (77)-5).

Jordon Brown (N. Ire) bt Younis Kuchey (Ind) 5-1 (40-62, 56-40, 71-45, 78-38, 84-39, 111-7).

Marc Davis (Sco) bt David O’Sullivan (Ire) 5-2 (27-70, 64-59, 78-35, 32-54, 49-14, 57-30, 66-1).

Daniel Wells (Wal) bt Ahmed Ghulam Muanedi (Bah) 5-3 (1-113, 72-27, 43-55, 111-14, 84-7, 44-39, 40-73, 66-53).

Stephen Ellis (Wal) bt Lim Jia Sheng (Sing) 5-2 (35-71, 70-77, 57-39, 71-36, 64-55, 87-9, 63-31).

Anda Zhang (Chn) bt El Shrbene Yasser (Egy) 5-4 (75-38, 73-14, 65-54, 57-61, 45-58,61-63, 62-64, 70-6, 86-9).

Girls: Arantxa Sanchis (Ind) bt Ramona Belmont (NZ) 3-2 (41-53, 60-55, 23-69, 73-58, 50-43).

Bi Zhuqing (Chn) bt Lavanya ( Ind) 3-0 (60-20, 65-11, 63-1).

Parsan Keynezhad (Irn) bt Aakanksha Singh (Ind) 3-0 (43-19, 60-23, 46-21).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport
News: ePaper | Front Page | National | Tamil Nadu | Andhra Pradesh | Karnataka | Kerala | New Delhi | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous | Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Jobs | Obituary | Updates: Breaking News |