First for China as Liang reaches last 8

SHEFFIELD, England: Qualifier Liang Wenbo became the first Chinese snooker player to reach the quarterfinals of the snooker world championship when he came through a tense deciding frame against Joe Swail to win 13-12 on Monday.

Leading 9-7 at the start of the final session, the 21-year-old moved to within a frame of victory at 12-8.

He then saw Swail reel off four frames in a row to level at 12-12. The Northern Ireland player looked on course to win in the final frame before a missed brown handed victory to Wenbo.

Liang, who is making his debut at The Crucible, will now face tournament favorite Ronnie O'Sullivan for a place in the last four.

He said he had struggled for consistency during the match.

"The first session was very good but in the second session I felt very nervous and played very tight. I think I played well in the final session but I did make mistakes," Liang said.

Swail was unhappy with the re-positioning of the yellow in the final frame following a foul shot, claiming that it had not been put in the correct place. Liang managed to hit the yellow at the second attempt, without the cue ball going off a cushion, after appearing to be snookered initially.

Liang insisted, however, that he had not been given an unfair advantage, saying: "The referee did the right thing because I misjudged the first shot."

Looking ahead to his match against twice world champion O'Sullivan, Liang said: "I'll try my best and I think I have a chance."

O'Sullivan made a maximum 147 break, a record third in world championships, on his way to beating fellow Briton Mark Williams 13-7 earlier in the day.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/30/2008 page22)