Eight Indians in pre-quarters of world billiards championship, Geet Sethi bows out

Eight Indian cueists entered the pre-quarterfinals of the world billiards championship after registering contrasting victories in their respective last 32 round matches, here on Thursday.

However, seven-time world champion Geet Sethi lost to Arun Agrawal 2-4 in one of the major upsets of the tournament.

Defending champion Rupesh Shah continued his fine form to reign supreme on the green baize in the short 150-up format as he beat Christopher Taylor of England 4-0.

Ashok Shandilya prevailed over England's Robin Wilson 4-3 while Siddharth Parekh blanked Kien Nguyen Trung of Vietnam 4-0.

Dhruv Sitwala thrashed Neil Bolton of Australia 4-0, Devendra Joshi got the better of Peter Shelly of England 4-1 while B Bhaskar outplayed compatriot D Raj Kumar 4-0 and Alok Kumar posted 4-2 win against countrymate Aditya Agrawal.

Results:

Rupesh Shah bt Christopher Taylor (Eng) 4-0 (150-34, 150-12 150-36 150-19); Ashok Shandilya bt Robin Wilson (Eng) 4-3 (150-95 150-103 150-85 99-150 85-150 72-150 150-36); Siddharth Parekh bt Kien Nguyen Trung (Vietnam) 4-0 (150-64 150-82 150-100 150-61); B Bhaskar bt D Raj Kumar 4-0 (150-23 150-70 150-64 150-50); Dhruv Sitwala bt Neil Bolton (Aus) 4-0 (150-65 150-110 150-124 150-55); Devendra Joshi bt Peter Shelly (Eng) 4-1 (150-112 150-07 150-138 143-150 150-00); Alok Kumar bt Aditya Agrawal 4-2; Arun Agrawal bt Geet Sethi 4-2 (93-150 150-55 150-19 150-142 140-150 150-117); Subramanian Venkateswaran lost to David Causier 0-4 (65-150 57-150 126-150 68-150); Dhvaj Haria lost to Mathew Bolton (Aus) 0-4 (65-150 42-150 76-150 143-150); Sourav Kothari lost to Peter Gilchrist (Eng) 2-4 (150-36 111-150 25-150 150-84 24-150 08-150).