Noppon Saengkham became the first Thai player to advance to the last 16 round of the Pathum Thani 6-red World Championship on Tuesday.
Noppon, better known in his country as 'Moo Paknam', defeated Mahoud El Hareedy of Egypt 5-1 for his second win in as many matches in Group G of the 11 million baht tournament.
Also progressed from the pool is England's Stuart Bingham who finished off Jordan Brown of Northern Ireland 5–2 at the Convention Centre of Thammasat University's Rangsit campus in Pathum Thani.
Noppon, Thailand's highest-ranked star at No.33, and Bingham have two victories each while Brown and El Hareedy are still looking for their first win.
Hossein Vafaei of Iran defeated Ireland's Ken Doherty to top Group C with a perfect 3-0 record.
Scotland's John Higgins (2-1) also earned a ticket to the knockout stage with a 5–0 victory over Poramin Danjirakul of Thailand.
Poramin ended his campaign with one win and two losses while Doherty was winless.
In an all-Chinese affair in Group A, Zhang Anda defeated Ding Junhui 5-0.
Zhang reached the last 16 round with a 3-0 record ahead of Ding (2-1).
In a match between eliminated players in the same pool, defending champion Stephen Maguire of Scotland secured a 5-0 win over Thai woman Nutcharat Wongharuethai, the 2022 world champion.
Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-nooh beat Tom Ford from England 5-2 while China's Zhou Yuelong defeated England's Jimmy White 5-1 in Group B.
Thepchaiya (2-0) meets Zhou (1-1) in their final group game, while Ford (1-1) takes on White (0-2).
Judd Trump (2-0) moved closer to the knockout stage after the Englishman secured a narrow 5-4 win against Thailand's Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn (0-2) in Group D.
In the same group, England's Ricky Walden beat China's Ma Hailong 5-1. Both are 1-1.
Thailand's Dechawat Poomjaeng beat Robert Milkins of England 5-0.
Dechawat (1-1) next meets England's Matthew Selt (0-2).
In a late match, seven-time world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan beat fellow Englishman Jimmy Robertson 5-3 in his opening match in Group H.
The 'Rocket' arrived in Thailand on Tuesday before starting his campaign in the evening.
The top two players from each of the eight groups qualify for the last 16 stage.
The champion receives 4.2 million baht in prize money and His Majesty the King's trophy.
The tournament ends on Saturday.
