Merchant loses to O'Donnel in World Snooker Championship

Ace Indian cueist Yasin Merchant has to wait until Wednesday to book a berth in the knockout stages as he lost to England's Martin O'Donnel on the second day of the IBSF World Snooker Championship here.

Merchant, riding high on confidence after defeating Libya's Khaled Elbakosh and Bairaq Al-Urfy of Sweden on Monday, lost to O'Donnel 3-4 but not before giving him a tough fight in the Group A tie.

The game was a see-saw battle with the winner hard to predict till the last frame. Merchant, down 0-2, came back strongly to win the next three frames.

The Mumbaikar conceded the first two frames 12-73, 29-56. He trounced the English cueist in the next three frames 66-5,4 77-1, 66-4.

Merchant, however, could not maintain the tempo and lost the next two frames 38-77, 24-80. O'Donnel's break of 74 in the deciding frame sealed the fate of Merchant.

The Indian will next face Syria's Omar Alkojah in his bid to qualify for the knockout stages.

Alkojah was beaten by O'Donnel 2-4 in his first enounter on Monday. The Syrian, however, regrouped his resources to beat Sweden's Bairaq Al-Urfy 4-1 in his next match.

In yet another disappointment for Indian fans, Manan Chandra lost to Kevin Van Hove of Belgium 2-4.

On Monday, Manan had made a good start crushing USA's Ahmed Aly Elsayed 4-0 with the scorecard reading 72-28, 96-07, 100-29, 72-49.

Kamal Chawla and Brijesh Damani provided the Indian fans a reason to cheer when they defeated Joris Maas of Netherlands and Craig Macgillivray of Scotland respectively.

Chawla registered his second round robin win by thrashing Maas 4-1 in a Group P encounter. He won the first two frames 79-15, 67-53, but conceded the following frame 55-64.

The Indian forced the Netherlands cueist out by securing the next two frames 52-47, 70-60.

Chawla had registered a four-frame win over Ryan Somaratna of Sri Lanka Monday evening. He had comfortably won all four frames 80-27, 70-5, 109-0, 72-41.

In another Group L match, Damani beat Craig 4-3 with a score of 79-47, 60-45, 3-116, 76-10, 47-76, 50-60, 93-0.

In yet another match, Hong Kong's Au Chi Wai beat India's Neeraj Kumar (4-2) 6-62, 82-2, 5-83, 66-30, 74-32, 121-03.

Brendan O'Donoghue of Ireland comfortably defeated Toh Chee Keong of Singapore 4-0. Australia's Vinnie Calabrese recovered from Monday's defeat and won his match against Germany's Karl Heinz Beggel 4-1.

Results:

Brijesh Damani (India) beat Craig Macgillivray (Scotland) 4-3 79-47, 60-45, 03-116(67), 76-10, 47-76, 50-60, 93(87)-00.
Noppon Saengkham (Thailand) beat Gary Gillard (New Zealand) 4-1 58-18, 77(76)-07, 62-65, 71-19, 79-08.
Vinnie Calabrese (Australia) beat Karl Heinz Beggel (Germany) 4-1 66-26, 44-22, 92-00, 11-65, 62-44.
Rais Khan Sen Zahi (Afghanistan) beat Michael Wild (England) 4-0 80-01, 69(58)-25, 65-28, 78(73)-40.
Wael Talaat (Egypt) beat Andreas Ploner (Austria) 4-2 39-73, 71(63)-00, 48-29, 30-72, 84-01, 65-25.
Brendan O' Donoghue (Ireland) beat Toh Chee Keong (Singapore) 4-0 69-09, 73-39, 64-28, 73(50)-21.
Hitesh Naran (South Africa) beat Ryan Somaratna (Sri Lanka) 4-1 66-33, 78-01, 70(62)-14, 00-74, 77-57.
Kamal Chawla (India) beat Joris Maas (Netherlands) 4-1 79-15, 67-53, 55-64, 52-47, 70-60(60).
Richards Rhydian (Wales) beat Enkhjargal Enkhbaatar (Mongolia) 4-3 75(70)-10, 23-61, 63-17, 47-58, 34-64, 70-16, 89(68)-01. Mohamed Khairy (Egypt) beat Balaji Reddy (India) 4-2 38-68, 75-46, 83(82), 32-67, 74(63)-21, 90-05.
Au Chi Wai (Hong Kong) beat Neeraj Kumar (India) 4-2 06-62, 82(56)-02, 05-83(69), 66-30, 74(55)-32, 121(121)-03.
Karam Fatima (Syria) beat Ajeya Prabhakar (USA) 4-1 72-25, 63-66, 55-02, 64-08, 87-32.
Kevin Van Hove (Belgium) beat Manan Chandra (India) 4-2 65-14, 71-21, 48-37, 21-77, 66((65)-54, 70-23.
Ahmed Aly Elsayed (USA) beat Misja Van Vonderen (Netherlands) 4-1 26-78, 64-41, 61-25, 61-27, 74(73)-01.
Omar Al Kojah (Syria) beat Bairaq Al-Urfy (Sweden) 4-1 80-49, 40-81(80), 70-52, 55-40, 68-00.
Martin O'Donnell (England) beat Yasin Merchant (India) 4-3 73-12, 56-29, 54(54)-66(66), 04-66(65), 01-77, 77(53)-38, 80(74)-24.