Pankaj Advani defeated Iraq's Alijali Ali 4 - 1 to enter the pre - quarterfinals of the Asian Snooker Championship here on Wednesday.
Starting in fine form in his match, Advani pocketed the first three frames, 78 - 54, 107 - 2, and 74 - 9 with breaks of 73 and 85 in the first two frames. In the fourth frame, Pankaj put up a strong fight only to lose the frame 29 - 65, according to a release.
Playing a best of 7 frames, India's Golden Boy, won the fifth frame, 57 - 44 to seal the match in his favour.
"It is good to start on a winning note in the knockout stages as it acts as a confidence booster, a necessity in tournaments of this level, " Advani commented on his day at work.
Moving into the round of 16, Pankaj now faces fellow Indian and 2015 National Sub - Junior Snooker Winner, 19 - year - old Ishpreet Singh Chadha.
"I look forward to facing promising talent such as Ishpreet who has been making quite an impression on the national snooker circuit. I am sure this will be a challenging yet exciting encounter, " the 30 - year - old said.
- - IANS
pur/vm