IBSF Snooker: Chandra, Pillai, Sanchis qualify

Manan Chandra, along with fellow-Indians Vidya Pillai and Arantxa Sanchis, entered the knock-out phase of the ongoing IBSF World snooker championships here. The trio joined Varsha Sanjeev who had qualified on Tuesday.

In his concluding league match, Chandra defeated Francisco Rodriguez (Spain) 4-0 to top his six-player group with five wins, his only loss coming against Andreas Ploner (Austria) who won 4-3.

Sanchis, the 23-year old from Pune, lost her final league match to China's Chunxia Shi 0-3, but finished second in her group with five wins. Shi topped with an all-win record. In her previous outing, Sanchis had beaten Manon Melief of the Netherlands 3-0.

National champion Pillai, who is still to play her last league match, has already qualified with five wins from as many outings to top her Group. She is scheduled to meet Malta's Roberta Cutajar later tonight in a match of no consequence.

Meanwhile, Neena Praveen defeated Jana Mitova of Bulgaria 3-0 for her fourth win in six matches, but she finished third in her group.