Qatar: With a bye in the round of 48, Pankaj Advani faced his first opponent in the knockout round of the Asian Snooker Championships earlier this evening, to seal his place in the round of 16. Meeting Iraq's Alijali Ali in the round of 32, Pankaj defeated his opponent 4-1, losing only the fourth frame to the Iraqi.

Starting in fine form in his match, Pankaj pocketed the first three frames, 78-54, 107-2, and 74-9 with breaks of 73 and 85 in the first two frames. In the fourth frame, Pankaj put up a strong fight only to lose the frame 65-29. Playing a best of 7 frames, India's Golden Boy, won the fifth frame, 57-44 to seal the match in his favour.

Moving into the round of 16, Pankaj now faces fellow Indian and 2015 National Sub-Junior Snooker Winner, 19 Year old Ishpreet Singh Chadha. Commenting on his day at work, Pankaj was relieved to get through the first of the knockout rounds, sharing, " It is good to start on a winning note in the knockout stages as it acts as a confidence booster, a necessity in tournaments of this level. I also look forward to facing promising talent such as Ishpreet who has been making quite an impression on the national snooker circuit. I am sure this will be a challenging yet exciting encounter."