Doha, March 18 () India’s ace cueist Pankaj Advani stormed into the semifinals of the Asian Billiards Championship here on Saturday as two of his compatriots Brijesh Damani and Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan too made it to the last-four stage.
Advani defeated Praput Chaithanasukan of Thailand in a quarterfinal clash in the 100-up format.
Advani, the multiple-times winner of the World, Asian and National billiards and snooker titles in various formats, got the better of Praput Chaithanasukan 5-1 in their last-eight stage clash in the Qatar capital on Saturday.
In the semifinal, Advani will take on Pauk Sa of Myanmar, who got the better of India’s Rupesh Shah 5-2 in the quarterfinals.
India is guaranteed a place in the final as Brijesh Damani and Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan will meet in an all-Indian affair in the second semifinal.
Both overcame Indian opponents in the quarterfinals Damani prevailed 5-4 over Dhruv Sitwala, winning with a scoreline of 0-102, 101-0, 8-101, 101(51)-7, 104-68 while Shrikrishna defeated Saurav Kothari 5-3 (105-74, 100(73)-87(82), 32-100, 55-101(81), 101(76)-48, 65(56)-101(72), 101-0) in the other quarterfinal.
Advani came up with a break of 93 to win the first frame 100-76 but his Thai opponent compiled a break of 74 to win the second 63-101 and tied the scores.
The Indian ace compiled another 93 break in the third frame to win it 100-43 and surged to a 2-1 lead. He maintained his upper hand in the next three games winning them 101(78)-00, 100-65, 100-12 to emerge victorious.
Earlier, Advani had defeated Thaha Irshath of Sri Lanka 4-0 in the first league match of the Asian Billiards Championship 2023. Advani won 102(61)-20, 100-07, 100(100)-00, 102(89)-05. He then blanked Hwang Chulho of South Korea 4-0 with a scoreline of 102-46, 103-32, 107-3 and 101-36, a century break of (105) being the highlight of this win for the 37-year-old from Bangalore.
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