Snooker World Games 2013 Results: Favourites Set to Roll After Early Clashes

Having made their start in this week’s World Games already, some of the snooker world’s best and brightest are already whittling each other away in the earliest phases of the knockout competition.

As things stand, Brendan O’Donoghue, Luis Lemus, Pedro Rolim Bohm, Peter Francisco and Ajeya Prabhakar have bowed out of the Columbia-based tournament, giving way to some of the bigger names in the competition.

As a result, Sunday’s quarterfinals have already begun to take shape, with the so far decided fixtures as follows.

However, even with all the talent on display, there are still those who shine out as particularly strong contenders amongst the group, a few of which are discussed below.

Joe Perry

The first man to claim his spot in the second round of the World Games, Joe Perry has the added comfort of those extra few hours to prepare for his matchup against India’s Aditya Mehta.

The young Englishman comes into this meeting in a good string of form, having reached at least the quarter-final stage in four of his last five tournaments.

On the other hand, Mehta is struggling slightly of late, playing in only four tournaments so far this year and failing to make it past the qualifying round in two of those.

The Indian is currently ranked 74th in the world, 55 places behind Perry, and the difference should show come Sunday.

Dechawat Poomjaeng

Having last met in early June during the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open, Dechawat Poomjaeng and Pankaj Advani are anything but unacquainted.

On that occasion, it was Poomjaeng who came out on top of the Asian duo in a tense 5-3 victory, despite not faring so well in the actual competition itself.

The more recent Wuxi Classic and Asian Tour bore more fruit for Poomjaeng, slightly eclipsing the efforts of his opponent Advani.

28-year-old Advani is currently ranked nine spots below Poomjaeng in the seedings, but will still pose a stubborn test to his familiar opponent.

All that said, it’s Poomjaeng’s flair and advantage in terms of experience which will come to the fore this weekend.

Nigel Bond

Although his Round 1 matchup against Peter Francisco may have been a little tighter than the English veteran would have hoped, Nigel Bond proceeds to the quarter-final phase of this competition with a point to prove.

Prior to the tournament's beginning, Jason Ferguson, Chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, tweeted regarding his pride for those British representatives competing:

The 47-year-old’s 3-2 win over the South African Francisco wasn’t quite of the margins he’s come to expect of late, but a win is a win.

Now, Bond will face either Liang Wenbo or Noppon Saengkham in the quarter-finals, the former of whom he had a walkover victory against in the Euro Tour 2 earlier in July.