Shahbaaz, Pandya score fluent wins in world U-21 snooker

Vasco, Aug 23 (UNI) India's Rishab Pandya and Shahbaaz Adil Khan had good first outings in the Vascon Manisha IBSF World-U-21 snooker championships at the Bogmalo Beach Resort here.

Late last night, Rishab Pandya had the highest break of the opening day -- 98, which may have been 135 -- on way to beating Bahrain's Hussein Mahmood 4-0. He broke down on the last red.

First thing on second day today, Shahbaaz Adil Khan blanked Malaysia's John Low 4-0 giving a sound display of potting and positional play.

Balaji Reddy, who had lost a close match to Malaysian Moh Keen Hoo yesterday, had his moments against Vincent Muldoon of Ireland, who is one of the title favourites, but was beaten 4-2. ''I am delighted to win, he gave me good snookers,'' said Muldoon.

In another close encounter, India's Shravan Mohta narrowly failed to put it across Thailand's Chinnakrit Yaowannasri losing 3-4. In a ding-dong battle, Shravan held a 3-2 lead but could not sustain it, losing the decider by a big margin.

Other Indians to lose their first matches were Pushpinder Singh and Ajay Bhushan, while Shivam Arora and Younis Kuchey won their matches. It was Shivam's second win.

Of the foreign players, Qatar's Ali Al Obaidly upset China's Anda Zhang 4-1. The match, whose four frames took the stipulated time of three hours, was stopped and played half an hour later. The Qatar player wrapped up the fifth frame in a trice.

The results: Group A: Michael Georgiou (Eng) bt Sohrabi Arya (Netherlands) 4-2 (56-57, 59-10, 25-51, 84-30, 89-30, 50-7); Ali Al Obaidly (Qatar) bt Anda Zhang (China) 4-1 (79-24, 66-34, 52-50, 35-51, 63-34); Pushpinder Singh (India) bt Joseph Loughran (N. Ireland) 4-2 (28-47, 66-15, 31-54, 67-45, 56-36, 47-45).

Group B: Vincent Muldoon (Ireland) bt Balaji Reddy (India) 4-2 (38-62, 34-63, 86-2, 75-38, 83-41, 60-43); Vincent Muldoon (Ireland) bt Yassen Hatem (Egypt) 4-0 (74-88, 79-19, 45-12, 90-1); Matt Williams (England) bt Abdul Rehman Al Shamsi (UAE) 4-0 (61-25, 100-10, 83-0, 78-10).

Group C: Davy Pauly (Bel) bt bt Lim Jia Sheng (Singapore) 4-2 (28-54, 55-35, 54-3, 55-50, 18-48, 72-34); Pramual Jantad (Thailand) bt Nedal Al Bakshy (Saudi Arabia) 4-0 (60-24, 86-9, 65-58, 53-49); Colvin O'Brien (Ireland) bt Khalid Ali Mohamed Ali Kamali (UAE) 4-0 (86-23, 55-26, 66-41, 59-44); Lim Jia Sheng (Singapore) bt Younis Kuchey (India) 4-3 (61-21, 40-90, 84-6, 17-61, 71-15, 1-60, 65-25); Younis Kuchey (India) bt Colvin O'Brien (Ireland) 4-2 (85-49, 49-57, 53-51, 64-52, 28-84, 64-30).

Group D: Shahbaaz Adil Khan (India) bt John Loh (Malaysia) 4-0 (57-3, 74-25, 66-28, 50-2); Kristoff Vermeiren (Belgium) bt El Agamy Ehaab (Egypt) 4-1 (68-18, 53-45, 61-38, 29-74, 68-28), Hussein Alwatani (Bahrain) bt Marc Davis (Scotland) 4-3 (56-46, 68-57, 32-16, 18-57, 8-73, 37-59, 54-50); Li Hang (China) bt El Agamy Ehaab (Egypt) 4-1 (51-23, 57-39, 66-40, 43-56, 87-16).

Group E: David Hogan (Ireland) bt Shannon Swain (NZ) 4-1 (50-61, 73-1, 52-51, 60-18, 76-12); El Shrbene Yasser (Egypt) bt Khamis Al Obaidly (Qatar) 4-2 (64-27, 90-6, 82-14, 24-52, 44-53, 72-26); Mariusz Sirko (Poland) bt Ajay Bhushan (India) 4-2 (54-52, 68-49, 73-19, 35-62, 42-65, 65-55).

Group F: Daniel Faddoul (Australia) bt Jonathan Kells (N Ireland) 4-2 (44-54, 51-17, 64-50, 54-24, 26-57, 59-29); Daniel Wells (Wales) bt Abdullah Al-Sobhy 4-0 (102-7, 65-24, 79-4, 58-9); Rishab Pandya (India) bt Hussein Mahmod (Bahrain) 4-0 (52-41, 69-33, 98-0, 67-20); Yu Delu(China) bt Abdulla Al-Sobhy (Saudi Arabia) 4-0 (118-1, 56-5, 84-9, 72-16).

Group G: Stephen Ellis (Wales) bt Douglas Appelberg (Sweden) 4-0 (55-6, 60-13, 76-0, 109-8); Jordan Brown (Ireland) bt Ryan Knott (NZ) 4-0 (66-31, 105-13, 70-11, 48-42), Shivam Arora (India) bt Abdulla Ibrahim Hassim Abdulla (UAE) 4-0 (72-52, 77-46, 53-37, 48-16).

Group H: Chinnakrit Yaowannasri (Thailand) bt Shravan Mohta (India) 4-3 (126-1, 38-69,33-74,67-29,64-27,28-37,74-16); Giovanni Duquenos (Belgium) bt Mohanna Al Obaidly (Qatar) 4-1 (68-50, 53-21, 34-61, 47-21, 52-35); David O'Sullivan (Ireland) bt Michal Zielinski (Poland) 4-2 (46-56,63-8,55-29,44-62,72-25,58-45); Michal Zielinski (Poland) bt Adam Grabish (Australia) 4-1 (64-4, 77-29, 34-60, 80-62, 55-32).

UNI