A large crowd overflooded the New Travel Lodge Hotel ballroom on Wednesday afternoon to see their sport hero battle with Pettman, but for almost entire 65 minutes the match lasted they found Issara to be on receiving end in their CAT Telecom-Chanthaburi Thailand Cup last 16 round clash.
While Pettman, the world No. 53, had breaks of 89, 78 and 80 to capture the first three frames, he saved the best for the fifth frame when he knocked home a clearance of 142 in less than nine minutes to leave the crowd awestruck.
Pettman's memorable show in the last frame was nothing less than rubbing salt into Issara's wounds as it deprived the Thai of a chance to stay in contention for the highest tournament break prize of 15,000 baht. Issara had earlier scored a clearance of 135 points in his last 32 round match on Monday afternoon.
Pettman relentlessly punished Issara for even half the mistakes he committed during the breezy showdown, but what the entire show brought to light was the gross difference in the standard of the two players. Considering that Issara is the 2006 Asian champion and now represents the continent on the world professional Main Tour, the upshot only suggests that a large majority of Asian players still have a lot of catching up to do.
Pettman is now expected to have a joyride in the quarter-finals on Thursday, when he is scheduled to face the winner of Wednesday night's last 16 round match between relatively unknown Navin Hengsomboon and Suttipong Chansri.
Later in the day, another young talent Nitiwat Kanjanasri was massacred by ageing veteran Praprut Chaithanasakul, better known to the local fans as Rom Surin, 4-1. Praprut used his vast experience in an effective way to curb Nitiwat's potting streaks.
In the morning session, Jessada Posukarn had a cosy time in handing a 4-1 loss to Kobkit Palajin, a former world under-21 championship runner-up who has so far failed to live up to the promise he exuberated a few years ago.
In Thursday's other quarter-finals, Thai snooker ace Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm takes on Phaithoon Phonbun, who edged China's Liu Song 4-3 late on Tuesday night, world No. 23 Michael Holt of England faces Noppadol Sangnil and Praprut meets Jessada at the same venue.
Last 16 round frame scores
Tuesday night's match: Phaithoon Phonbun beat Liu Song (China) 4-3 (63-38, 12-103(82), 75-0, 33-89, 63(53)-13, 44-84(83), 60-53(53))
Wednesday matches: Jessada Posukarn beat Kobkit Palajin 4-1 (57-38, 49-56, 86-0, 66-55, 69-24); Stuart Pettman (England) beat Issara Kachaiwong 4-1 (124-4, 78-0, 80-0, 54-69, 142-0); Praprut Chaithanasakul beat Nitiwat Kanjanasri 4-1 (68(53)-54, 25-103(78), 56-48, 80(53)-47, 62-37)
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