New Delhi: Three-time IBSF World champion Pankaj Advani suffered a shock 0-4 defeat at the hands of Pakistan’s Asjad Iqbal in the quarterfinals of the World Cup of snooker here on Tuesday.
Iqbal, who defeated another Indian, Hussain Khan, 3-0 in the round of 32, hardly put a foot wrong in the best-of-seven-frame clash.
A fine potter, Iqbal came up with a barrage of breaks in his lopsided victory.
He rifled in an 81-break in the opening frame and followed that up with a 45 in the next for a quick 2-0 lead.
Advani, who defeated fellow Indian Brijesh Damani in the pre-quarters, failed to come up with the goods on the day.
Iqbal then took the third frame with runs of 68 and 49, and then rode his luck to win the fourth and storm into the semifinals.
Earlier, Aditya Mehta, who has been playing some of his best snooker in recent times, went down 2-4 against Hong Kong China’s Chang Yu Kiu in the pre-quarterfinals.
Results (Indians unless mentioned): Quarterfinal: Asjad Iqbal (Pak) bt Pankaj Advani 4-0 (100 (81) -0, 92 (45) -37, 117 (68, 49) -16, 83-21).
Pre-quarters: Pankaj Advani bt Brijesh Damani 4-1 (76 (62) -37, 72-65 (53), 62-33, 13-49, 97 (53) -0); Chang Yu Kiu (HKC) bt Aditya Mehta 4-2 (46-68 (55), 0-75 (75), 72 (68) -52, 71-23, 110 (72) -0, 101 (89) -33).
Round of 32: Pankaj Advani bt Hesham Shawky (Egy) 3-1 (74-49, 9-71, 56-27, 101 (91) -0); Aditya Mehta bt Dong Zihao (Chn) 3-2 (24-93 (51), 65-17, 27-66, 70-56 (56), 114 (110) -16); Brijesh Damani bt Ahmed Saif (Qat) 3-2 (61-65, 73-32, 66 (66) -0, 0-105 (103), 66-11); Asjad Iqbal bt Hussain Khan 3-0 (53 (53) -44, 90-41, 93 (84) -9).