Pune:
Eighth-time champion Geet Sethi came back to his elements with back-to-back victories while defending champion Pankaj Advani continued his winning run as both the ace Indian cueists entered the pre-quarterfinals in the time-format of IBSF World Billiards Championship on Saturday.
Sethi, who struggled yesterday, first defeated Aidan Murray of Ireland 102-105, 150-59, 151-2, 152-27 and then demolished Korea's Min Hu Baek 152-22, 151-35, 151-42 in straight frames to qualify for the knock-out stage.
Playing in Group A, Murray needed a 3-0 win over Nay Thway Oo in his final game to shut the door on Geet but he lost to the Myanmar cueist 0-3 to crash our of the championship.
In contrast, Advani and nine-time world champion Mike Russell registered easy victories to top their respective groups.
Pankaj defeated compatriots Bhaskar Balachandra and Alok Kumar 150-55, 151-64, 83-150, 150-145 and 150-46, 151-73, 152-29 respectively.
Russell, however, witnessed some resistance from 2007 champion Rupesh Shah, but the Englishman eventually defeated his Indian counterpart in five frames.
Apart from Sethi and Advani, the other Indians who have made it to the pre-quarterfinals were Rupesh Shah, Sourav Kothari, Ashok Shandilya, Dhruv Sitwala, Bhaskar and Alok Kumar.