World champion Geet Sethi and Asian Games double gold medallist Ashok Shandilya were among the first few to qualify for the knockout stage. Both scored convincing victories on Day One today and were later joined by Englishman Peter Gilchrist and Nalin Patel.

While it was smooth sailing for most, only C Praprut seemed to have trouble adjusting to the alien surroundings. Thailand's national champion was given a tough time by India's Arun Agrawal before the former eked out a 547-533 win. Praput started on well with breaks of 101 and 120. The wiry Agrawal complimented well with a 143 but withtime running out, failed to catch up with his fancied rival.

Talking of century breaks, there were 20 today with the highest being 301 from Gilchrist. The 30-year-old from Cleveland County in Middlesborough cracked a triple-ton during his 948-486 win over the veteran Michael Ferreira.

The day's highest total of 1034, however, came from Sethi during his afternoon encounter with Manoj Kothari. His scores included breaks of 101 and 204.

RESULTS (League)

Group A: Geet Sethi 893 (129, 126, 115, 196) bt Antim Singhi 424 (94); Nalin Patel 770 (92, 91) bt Manoj Kothari 359; Nalin Patel 778 (195, 109) bt Antim Singhi 399 (73, 62); Geet Sethi 1034 (101, 204) bt Manoj Kotahri 523 (87, 74)

Group B: Ashok Shandilya 652 (84) bt Michael Ferreira 485 (75); Peter Gilchrist 619 (118, 51, 90, 41, 104) bt Shyam Jagtiani 583 (74, 70, 45, 66, 89, 51, 91); Ashok Shandilya 582 (110, 81) bt Shyam Jagtiani 478 (103); Peter Gilchrist 948 (301, 132, 72) bt Michael Ferreira 486 (92)

Group C: C Praprut 547(101, 120, 70) bt Arun Agrawal 533 (80, 92, 143); Alok Kumar 606 (61, 70) bt Chandresh Shah 503 (119)

Group D: Devendra Joshi 801 (109, 97) bt Varun Taneja 558 (96, 124); Subhash Agrawal 874 (71, 168, 94, 91) bt Mohammad Asim 285