As is the tradition, reigning world champion Geet Sethi opened the defence of his title against compatriot Sourav Kothari, and he looked to be in good form as he made a high break of 342. This was his first triple century in the event for nine years and he also added another century to win by over 500.

Mike Russell was looking to win back the title he last held in 2004 and after a cagey start against Ian Williamson he eventually managed to pull away, aided by a double century.

After a confident start, Geet Sethi was made to work hard by Ian Williamson and seemed to struggle, only a late break of 78 seeing him over the line.

Any lingering doubts over the form of Mike Russell were dispelled as he ran in breaks of 482, 235 and 191 with the floating white at the top of the table, looking close to his majestic best against Sourav Kothari.

With both Sethi and Russell already through, their encounter was to be played for pride as they met for the first time in this event for four years. Again Russell showed great form, winning by over 900 points as Sethi had no answer to his sheer break building class.

The biggest talking point in this group was Devendra Joshi not being able to use his own cue, as it didn’t turn up at the airport and it obviously affected him as he lost his opening game to Dhruv Sitwala, who made two centuries, to leave the group wide open.

Top Seed in the group, Peter Gilchrist, opened up with a poor performance but a win none the less against Austria’s Michael Kreuziger.

Gilchrist then made it two wins from two as he saw off Sitwala who struggled in the match.

Upon the return of his cue for the second day Joshi found his form, making a break of 321 and three centuries to beat Kreuziger.

The final game saw Joshi needing to beat Gilchrist to have any chance of progressing to the quarter finals. Although Gilchrist made him work hard for his victory, Joshi made a break of 443 to win the match and top the group.

This group proved to be the most open three players ended up on most wins.

Ashok Shandilya suffered a surprise defeat to Alok Kumar in his opening match. In a close match both players made two centuries but Kumar held on to win 621-527.

World IBSF champion Pankaj Advani, making his debut in the world professional championship, made three centuries to see off Paul Bennett by over 400 points

Shandilya got back on track as again he was involved in another close contest, this time with Advani, making breaks of 239 and 153 to win by 73.

Paul Bennett obtained his first win as he made two centuries to see off Alok Kumar.

Advani also made two centuries to see off Kumar and end his championship.

So with Advani through it was left to Bennett and Shandilya to fight it out for the other qualifying spot in the group. In a nervy encounter, where the highest break was 91, Paul Edged through by 42. After the match I asked him what he thought about the game, to which he replied "I had to use my experience and just played solid Matchplay Billiards".

This group, much like group A, saw the top two as heavy favourites to qualify.

2005 world champion Chris Shutt got underway by making two double centuries to beat Mark Hurst.

Dave Causier made six centuries in beating Mark Hurst and Steve Misfud.

Chris Shutt saw off Steve Misfud by making two double centuries and three centuries and averaging 53.9, showing the sort of form that could win him the title back.

Causier topped the group by beating Shutt, with both players knowing they could face each other again in the semi finals.

The great man again produced a session of class and with three consecutive visits made breaks of 476,389 and 290 to overwhelm his opponent and, despite "easing up" towards the end, still had an average of 106.7. Any player would struggle to handle this. Peter Gilchrist paid full tribute to Mike’s performance after the match but admitted that he has not been playing well at the top level for a few years now.

Pankaj Advani pushed Chris Shutt much harder than most would have expected as he made breaks of 194,120 and 110. Shutt replied with 276 and 164 and with only 10 minutes remaining there was just 55 in the game. Shutt then came to the table and played out time with a break of 160 to make the score line look more comfortable.

In a one sided affair Dave Causier reached his fifth semi final as again he showed wonderful consistency with flashes of brilliance as he made breaks of 308,201 and 106 to see off Paul Bennett, who offered nothing as resistance, by over 900.

Geet Sethi saw off Devendra Joshi by just 177 points, as both players produced a consistent display, Sethi making three centuries to Joshi’s two. This proved to be the difference as towards the end Joshi edged in front only for Sethi to make break of 133 to go back in front and reach the Semi-finals.

The first session of the game saw a repeat of their group game as Russell continued his magnificent form, making breaks of 326,261,242 and 236, to take an unassailable lead of over 1000 into the second session. Sethi produced his best form of the tournament since his opening match, winning the session by 442 with a top break of 335 but the damage had already been done as Mike reached his 14th final.

Chris Shutt made his highest break of the tournament (421) to go in front but Causier stuck to the task in hand making three centuries. During the interval Dave said "I’m over the moon to be just 89 behind considering he has made a 400", however he knew it would be a tough task in the second session. Shutt was never able to shake off Causier, you always felt he had something more in the tank. In the end however Shutt prevailed, making a double century to set up a repeat of the 2005 final.

After 90 minutes it looked as if this was going to be a one-sided match as Russell made breaks of 382,309,274 and 102, occupying the table for nearly all that time. Shutt made two centuries towards the end of the session to reduce his arrears slightly to 735, but few would have gave him a chance now!

Speaking to Mike during the interval he commented, "I’m not enough in front, I’ve still got work to do" knowing he still had a match on.

Chris appreciated the mammoth task facing him but simply said, "I’m certainly not favourite but if I can make a couple of big breaks you never know?"

At the start of the second session Russell struggled to get going again and Chris didn’t need a second invitation, making breaks of 280,246,195 and 190. In the middle of this onslaught Mike managed to put together breaks of 199 and 102. Chris got to just 126 points behind when he missed a pot red from the spot which proved vital as Mike, under increasing pressure, used every ounce of his experience and class to compile a break of 241 to seal the match and secure his eighth world title.

After the match Mike paid tribute to the fight back Chris gave, admitting the nerves he felt during the second session. He also commented on the superb condition of the tables, saying that they were the best set of tables he had ever had the pleasure of playing a world championship on.

Chris praised Mike but felt that he didn’t do himself justice by not making enough of he own chances, particularly in the second session.