Advani enters billiards final

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, April 13 

Ace cueist and world champion Pankaj Advani cruised into the Asian Billiards Championship final after he beat Rupesh Shah 5-2 on the penultimate day of the tournament here today.

In the final, Advani will meet Sourav Kothari, who was made to sweat by Bhaskar Balachandra before winning the semifinal tie 5-4. 

Advani, who was playing on table 1, was tied 1-1 with Shah before he lifted his game to dominate his opponent.    

“The match wasn't an easy one, as the score suggests. He (Rupesh Shah) is a very difficult player and plays percentage billiards,” Advani said after the match. 

Kothari, meanwhile, had to keep his calm to overcome Balachandra after the two were tied 4-4 at the end of the eighth game in the best-of-nine format.   

In the Asian U-21 Snooker Championship, 16-year-old Mohammad Naseem Akhtar of Pakistan bowed out to China's Fan Zhengyi 1-5 after he got the better of another Chinese competitor Zhang Jiankang 5-3 in the quarterfinals.

Fan Zhengyi will play country-mate Yuan Sijun in the final. Yuan beat Thailand's Pongsak Chongjairak 5-2 in the semifinals.  

In the women's category, Ng On Yee of Hong Kong stunned Thailand's 17-year-old Sripaporn Nuanthakamjan 3-0 to enter the semifinals, where she will meet India's Vidya Pillai. 

Vidya registered a 3-2 win against Chitra Magimairajan in the semifinals.