The World Championships adventure is over for Carlow based Aidan Murray who came so close to making it through to the last 16 of the tournament.
Murray lost the first game in the best of 5 format and was within two points of going two games down when his opponent Bhaskar Balachandra missed game ball on 148 points, just two shy of victory in the 150 up format here at the Ivy Rooms. Then Murray made no mistake mopping up the required 16 points to level the match.
Things got better for Murray in game three when he made a 148 break to go two games to one up.
Back came Balachandra with a 150 break to level the match again.
The deciding game was tense and when the two players were tied at 91 points each, Murray missed an in-off shot to the middle pocket to leave Balachandra the opportunity to get back in and he made no mistake. Balachandra finished off the match with some great shots in what was sometimes a difficult passage to victory, but Balachandra made some great shots to go through to the last 16.
India swept the board in the morning sessions with victories on all tables and still set the standard here in Carlow
10 AM Session Results (Best of 5)
Praprut Chaithanasakun (Thailand) 3 – 0 Surja Suwannasinh (Thailand)
Devendra Shreekant Joshi (India) 3 – 0 Phil Mumford (England)
Ashok Shandilya (India) 3 – 0 Phil Martin (Rep of Ireland)
Dhruv Sitwala (India) 3 – 0 Brian Harvey (England)
Geet Sethi (India) 3 – 1 Than Binh Nguyen (Vietnam)
Billy Bousfield (England) 3 – 2 Thanh Binn Nguyen (Vietnam)
Bhaskar Balachandra (India) 3 – 2 Aidan Murray (Rep of Ireland)
Sourav Kothari (India) 3 – 2 Kyaw Oo (Myanmar)
Last 16 Line ups 2pm Session (Best of 7)
Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Thailand) v Paprut Chaitanasakun (Thailand)
Alok Kumar (India) v Geet Sethi (India)
Peret Gilchrist (Singapore) v Devendra Shreekant Joshi (India)
Pakaj Advani (India) v Bhaskar Balachandra (India)
Mike Russell (England) v Billy Bousfield (England)
Nay Thway Oo (Myanmar) v Ashok Shandilya (India)
Matthew Bolton (Australia) v Dhruv Sitwala (India)
Rupesh Shah (India) v Sourav Kothari (India)
