Sethi, Patel in last eight

Former World champion Geet Sethi of India and his compatriot Nalin Patel moved into the quarter-finals even as the current World champion Mike Russell of England bowed out of the pre-quarter-finals of the World Open billiards championship at Middlesbrough on Thursday.

Russell, a product of the Teesside Boys Billiards League, went down fighting 6-8 to fellow-Englishman Paul Bennett in the best-of-15 games match while Sethi and Patel (world No 8) crushed Khobala Sirisoma of Sri Lanka 8-1 and Moh Loon Hong of Malaysia 8-4 respectively.

However, the other three Indians in the fray -- Asian double gold medallist Ashok Shandilya, 1995 World Open runner-up Devendra Joshi and former national champion Alok Kumar -- failed to make it to the last eight stage.

Shandilya went down fighting to world No. 6 Chris Shutt of England 4-8 while Joshi was beaten by world No. 7 Roxton Chapman 2-8. Punjab-based Alok Kumar was beaten by David Causier 1-8.

Geet Sethi will meet David Causier in the quarterfinals while Nalin Patel take on Roxton Chapman. Paul Bennett plays Lee Lagan, a winner over Ian Williamson 8-2, and Chris Shutt crosses swords with Peter Gilchrist, who beat Paul Mifsud 8-4 in the pre-quarterfinals.