Defending champion Fong-Pang Chao recovered on Monday with a pair of wins at the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship in Cardiff, Wales, moving into the last qualifying spot in Group 1 with one day of round-robin play remaining. Chao topped Brazil’s Fabio Luersen, 5-0, and England’s Andy Battams, 5-4, on Monday to tie Ramil Gallego and Quinten Hann for second place in the group with eight points, two behind undefeated group leader Chris Melling of England.

Players also undefeated through Monday’s action include Hao-Ping Chang (5-0), Dmitri Jungo (5-0), Radoslaw Babica (6-0), Ralf Souquet (6-0), Steve Knight (5-0), Johnny Archer (5-0) and Leonardo Andam (5-0).

The top four qualifiers in each of the 16 groups will advance to the round of 64, which begins on Wednesday.