Prabhakar secures IBSF knockout berth
filed on Saturday, November 2, 2019. 10:05am PT/USA
Ajeya Prabhakar has insured that the United States will be represented in the knockout stage of the 2019 International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championships, as he wins his final Group match in the Men's event on day five of play at the Starlight Resort Hotel in Antalya, Turkey.
The two-time former United States National Snooker Champion faced home player Kayhan Durukan in his final Group L match, and it was an encounter he had to win if he was to progress further in the event.
The 39-year-old Turk had lost his two previous Group ties, so the Californian would have known he was an opponent who he was very capable of overcoming and so it proved as he cruised to a comfortable 4-0 success.
Prabhakar will finish Group L in third place and so he will have to wait and see if he is ranked in the top-62 of sixty-six qualified players in order to go directly into round of 64, otherwise he will have to compete in a pre-round of 64 tie which are all played on Wednesday, November 6.
The reigning United States National Snooker Champion, Ahmed Aly Elsayed, was not in action today though will play his final Group match in the Men's event on Monday, November 4, and he will be playing for the chance to progress into the knockout stage.
Laszlo Kovacs, who was eliminated from the Men's event after yesterday's Group loss, completed his Group M ties with a 4-0 loss to Iraq's Ali Hussein.
Nitin Mehta was the only United States player competing in the Masters' event today, but after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Iraq's Ihab Al-Salih in Group M he is effectively eliminated with one further match to play.
Tomorrow, Sunday, November 3, is a rest day for the Championships, with play all set to resume at 10am local time Monday morning.
Aly's Men's event playing schedule & results:
(start times are stated in local time, +3 hrs GMT)
Group H Match 1: October 30, 4pm start - lost to Zhao Jianbo (China) 1 - 4
Group H Match 2: October 31, 7pm start - lost to Ben Fortey (Wales) 1 - 4
Group H Match 3: November 1, 7pm start - def. Tomas Kubicek (Czech Republic) 4 - 1
Group H Match 4: November 4, 1pm start - vs. Mhanaa Alobaidli (Qatar)
Prabhakar's Men's event playing schedule & results:
(start times are stated in local time, +3 hrs GMT)
Group L Match 1: October 30, 7pm start - def. Shachar Ruberg (Israel) 4 - 2
Group L Match 2: October 31, 7pm start - lost to Babar Masih (Pakistan) 0 - 4
Group L Match 3: November 1, 4pm start - lost to Osip Zusmanovic (Czech Republic) 2 - 4
Group L Match 4: November 2, 1pm start - def. Kayhan Durukan (Turkey) 4 - 0
Round of 66/64: November 6, To be determined
Kovacs's Men's event playing schedule & results:
(start times are stated in local time, +3 hrs GMT)
Group M Match 1: October 29, 4pm start - lost to Mateusz Baranowski (Poland) 0 - 4
Group M Match 2: October 31, 7pm start - lost to Mihai Vladu (Romania) 1 - 4
Group M Match 3: November 1, 4pm start - lost to Milad Fathpour Kashani (Iran) 2 - 4
Group M Match 4: November 2, 1pm start - lost to Ali Hussein (Iraq) 0 - 4
Mehta's Masters' event playing schedule & results:
(start times are stated in local time, +3 hrs GMT)
Group M Match 1: October 30, 10am start - lost to Graham Beardmore (England) 1 - 3
Group M Match 2: November 1, 10am start - lost Steven Thomas (Wales) 1 - 3
Group M Match 3: November 2, 4pm start - lost to Ihab Al-Salih (Iraq) 0 - 3
Group M Match 4: November 5, 4pm start - vs. Anuj Uppal (India)
Seth's Masters' event playing schedule & results:
(start times are stated in local time, +3 hrs GMT)
Group N Match 1: October 30, 4pm start - lost to Gušni Pįlsson (Iceland) 0 - 3
Group N Match 2: November 1, 4pm start - lost to Alok Kumar (India) 0 - 3
Group N Match 3: November 4, 4pm start - vs. Muhammed Leysi (Turkey)
Group N Match 4: November 5, 4pm start - vs. Mohammad Al-Binali (Qatar)
SnookerUSA.com will report on all of the United States players' match results throughout the Championships.