Parikh rallies to oust 4th seed Sheehan, sets up quarters clash with Hall at World Billiards

India’s Siddharth Parikh rallied splendidly to put it across fourth-seeded Peter Sheehan in the pre-quarterfinals of the IBSF World Billiards Championship in Carlow, Ireland, on Monday.

The 45-year-old Mumbaikar’s come-from-behind 575-508 victory set up a quarterfinal meeting with fifth seed Robert Hall later in the day. Hall outclassed former champion Mike Russell 882-258 at an adjacent table.

Down 331-477 with about 35 minutes remaining, Parikh found an opening he was looking for. Sheehan missed a forcing red in-off to the bottom right-hand pocket, and Parikh latched onto the offering to construct a gritty break of 126 to reduce the margin.

Kothari suffers a Goodwill shock even as 8 Indians enter pre-quarters at World Billiards

The Indian cueist, a two-time bronze medallist, then punished another Sheehan error, who missed a cannon off the side cushion, with a match-winning break of 82.

Advani and Kothari have it easy

Elsewhere, favourite Pankaj Advani, given the top billing after the reseeding for the knockouts, demolished fellow Indian Rafath Habib, predominantly a snooker player, 951-283 to sail into the quarters. He meets Martin Goodwill, a 497-319 victor over Alok Kumar, later in the day.

Reigning champion Sourav Kothari, who suffered a defeat in his final league match, found his rhythm and range in the last-16 clash against the formidable Dhruv Sitwala, scoring a lopsided 701-211 victory. He reduced the southpaw to a mere spectator with runs of 176, 198 and 175. He next takes on the in-form David Causier. The Englishman demolished South Korea’s Baek Minhu 1517-158, which included two mammoth breaks of 611 and 558.

In a late evening match, India’s Shrikrishna S scored a shock 604-357 win over former champion Peter Gilchrist. Shrikrishna, a former junior World champion, meets fellow Indian Dhvaj Haria next.

Results (Indians unless mentioned): Pre-quarterfinals: Pankaj Advani 951 (192, 56, 143, 139, 73, 105, 52) beat Rafath Habib 283 (50); Martin Goodwill (Eng) 497 (176, 95) beat Alok Kumar 319 (68); Robert Hall (Eng) 882 (75, 221, 82, 65, 224, 114) beat Mike Russell (Eng) 258 (93, 66); Siddharth Parikh 575 (83, 71, 126, 82) beat Peter Sheehan (Eng) 508 (98, 158, 54, 91); Sourav Kothari 701 (176, 198, 175) beat Dhruv Sitwala 211 (55, 71); Shrikrishna S 604 (140, 206, 81, 85) beat Peter Gilchrist (Sin) 357 (90, 113, 111); Dhvaj Haria 745 (103, 82, 84, 122, 171) beat Rupesh Shah 293 (61, 88, 61); David Causier (Eng) 1517 (611, 93, 71, 88, 57, 558) beat Baek Minhu (Kor) 158 (84).

League: Group C: Sitwala 437 (147, 81) beat Alok 311 (88, 54).

Group D: Causier (Eng) 647 (97, 63, 92, 60, 80) beat Habib 293 (79).

Group E: Hall 543 (59, 78, 189, 61) beat Rupesh 218 (81); Rishabh Thakkar 687 (58, 98, 89, 148, 72, 60) beat Peter Tankard (Aus) 116.

Group F: Sheehan 479 (65, 122, 114) beat Shrikrishna 399 (101, 103); Jagadesh Bhuvaneswaran 658 (99, 90, 74, 151, 56) beat Joe Doheny (Ire) 131.

Group G: Dhvaj 436 (96, 182, 74) beat Russell 393 (178, 59, 113); Aidan Murray (Ire) 294 (100, 60) beat Srinu Katipogu 259 (79, 51).

Group H: Gilchrist (Sin) 455 (175, 156) beat Parikh 335 (73, 80, 114).