Butof and Pleschek stumble upon first KO hurdle

Hardly 24 hours after rewriting the Austrian snooker history books by advancing from the round-robin group stage, Felix Pleschek and Robert Bütof had to leave the IBSF World Championships on Tuesday. In the preliminary K.O. round, necessary to reduce the number of remaining contenders to 32, Pleschek lost to Mohamed Shebab 1-4 while Bütof was routed by David Donovan 0-4.

Felix Pleschek vs. Mohammed Shebab 1:4 [13-87, 66-56, 39-51, 22-69, 5-78]

Pleschek lost the opening frame but clinched a tight second on the colours to level the score. Shehab, a former Main Tour player from the United Arab Emirates, stepped up a gear and won three straight frames to wrap up the victory. In the last 32, Shebab will meet England's Lee Page, a respected cueist on the semi-professional circuit who also featured on the Main Tour in the 2006-07 season.

Robert Bütof vs. David Donovan 0:4 [31-68, 0-138, 42-57, 32-60]

Bütof was outscored 31-206 points in the opening two frames as Donovan hit a 138 total clearance, the second highest break of the tournament so far. He had some chances to claw one back in the third, but Donovan held off the challenge and his win was never in danger. The Welshman, who was on the Main Tour in 2002-03, is next up against Yu Delu of China, who made the headlines by winning the wild card round of both the 2007 Shanghai Masters and China Open.

For more event information and full results, visit IBSF or Global Snooker Centre.

© text: Eric Willemsen / picture: IBSF