The Heat is on in Hyderabad
Competition is hotting up as the group stages of the IBSF World Snooker Championships near conclusion
Front runners are beginning to emerge from the field in the Group matches being played at the HICC, Hyderabad. India.
India's own Alok Kumar is now the only man yet to drop a frame. Kumar has the perfect record of played four, won four. Close on his heels is Welshman Gavin Pantall who has only let one frame slip from his grasp so far.
Some Groups are stilll wide open while others are nearly resolved.
Group A is headed by Indian favourite Pankaj Advani. His narrow 4-3 win over Philip Williams gives him a three from three success rate with three frames lost. Williams and India's Sandeep have two wins so far.
Group B is very tight. Thailand's former pro Supoj Saenla leads the pack with three wins. Awad and Khan has two, followed by Hannah and Bahrain's Habib Subah with one win each. With only four players qualifying for the knock out stages, this group could come down to frame difference.
The vastly experienced Indian, Yasin Merchant, dominates Group C. He has secured three wins. But the surprise so far in Group C has been the poor form of Australian Steve Mifsud. The Australian has only won one match from three outings and lies in fourth place behind Mario Fernandez from Ireland and Pakistan's Muhammed Asif.
Malta's Alex Borg leads Group D ahead of Indian's Manan Chandra. Borg won their head to head 4-2 and has three wins, ahead of Chandra, Khan from South Africa and Australia's James Mifsud, all on two wins.
Scotland teenager Anthony McGill has been in excellent form. He's notched four wins in Group E, ahead of Brazilian Igor Figueiredo.
Hong Kong's Fung Kwok Wai is the man to chase in Group F. In second place is a surprise package from India, a new young player I. H. Manudev, who has three wins out of four at the moment.
Mohammed Al Joker, representing United Arab Emirates has won four matches in Group G and only dropped five frames in the process. He beat England's David Craggs, who lies in second place with three wins.
Singapore's Ang Boon China has four wins to head up Group H. Germany's Sascha Lippe is hot on his heels with three out of four.
In Group K, Alok Kumar reigns supreme. Four wins and no a single frame lost so far. Chan Ka King of Hong Kong also has four wins but has lost eight frames.
There's a tie at the top of Group J, with Sajjad of Pakistan and Lai Chee Wei from Singapore both having four wins. Sajjad leads by one frame.
Group L was thrown wide open when Alfie Burden beat Tian Pengfei. Burden has 100% record with three wins, while Pengfei has three from four at the moment. Both Burden and Pengfei have knocked in back to back centuries during the course of their matches. In fact Burden had a 147 chance before missing the 15th red on 112.
At the moment Group M is up for grabs. Four players sit on two wins with Malta's Duncan Bezzina, Scotland's Cruickshanks, Lim Chun Kiat from Singapore and Yu Delu form China, all hoping to keep a win ahead of Holland's Joeri Reisig.
In Group N, Gavin Pantall from Wales leads the group with three wins and only one lost frame. Antony Brabin from Cyprus also has three wins. Both look certain of qualification.
Group P sees Yu Lun Wu of Chinese Taipei on three wins, ahead of Einsle, Leong and Mehta, all on two wins. India have high hopes of Aditya Mehta who was on the professional tour last season, but he's struggled so far in the Group.
Mohammed Shehab has three wins in Group Q, ahead of Egypt's Suleman Sala, Kamal Chawla of India and Ajeya Prabhakar of USA. If Prabhakar manages to secure a knock out place it will be the first time an American has reached the knock out stages.
Thailand's Yuttapop Pakpoj has impressed everyone in Group R. He's dropped only two frames in his three matches so far. Hong Kong's Lin Tan Ho lost 4-3 to Wael Talaat today and that leaves, Ho, Talaat and Kiwi Chris Maltby all on two wins.
