Manuja Veerappa

Bengaluru

Sept 3: With no opponent giving him a real fight, Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist had a grin plastered on his face during the league matches at the ONGC-IBSF World Billiards Championship.

But in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Peter Gilchrist was a picture of grimness — he had after all found his match in local boy Pankaj Advani. In a high voltage quarterfinal encounter Advani overwhelmed Gilchrist 4-1.

In the other quarterfinals matches, Geet Sethi overcame compatriot Alok Kumar 4-1, while Devendra Joshi got the better of Thailand’s Praprut Chaithanasakun 4 – 2. With a 4-1 win over Dhruv Sitwala, defending champion Rupesh Shah completed the all-Indian semifinal line-up.

In a high quality match, Pankaj Advani maintained his composure against Gilchrist. Although a little scrappy Advani took the first two games of the best-of seven 151-54 and 150-14. In the second game, Gilchrist complied a break of 104 in his sixth visit, but a 97 by Advani in his eighth visit swung the game in his favour.

Gilchrist came back well with an unfinished 147 to take the third 36-151. As the capacity crowd watched in awe, Advani looked in good nick as he piled up unfinished breaks on 147 and 137 in the next two games, to send Gilchrist packing. As Advani potted his last ball, his home crowd erupted in joy. In another quarterfinal match, Geet Sethi was extended by wildcard entrant Alok Kumar, before the latter conceded the match with Sethi leading 4-2.

In the semifinals, Pankaj Advani will look to continue his fine run against reigning champion Rupesh Shah, while Geet Sethi will face Davendra Joshi.

Results

Quarterfinals: Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Peter Gilchrist (S’pore) 4 – 1 (151- 54, 150 (97) – 141 (104), 36 – 151 (147UF), 150 (137 UF) – 05, 150 (136 UF) – 61;

Geet Sethi (Ind) bt Alok Kumar (Ind) 4 – 2 (151 (71) – 21, 150 (150) – 07, 151 (149) – 02, 68 – 150 (67), 5 – 150 (143), 121 (55) – 05 (match conceded);

Devendra Joshi (Ind) bt Praprut Chaithanasakun (Thai) 4 – 2 (150 (87) – 89, 00 – 150 (58, 83), 138 (124) – 151 (77, 62), 150 (150) – 08, 150 (92) – 70, 150 (148) – 00;

Rupesh Shah (Ind) bt Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) 4 – 1 (113 (65) – 150, 152 (152 UF) – 32, 150 (65) – 142 (140), 150 (56, 94 UF) – 44, 151 (63) – 74.

Pre- quarterfinals:

Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Thai) 4 – 1 (7 – 150 (81 UF), 150 (150) – 08, 150 (83, 48) – 31, 150 (150) – 10, 150 (148) – 00;

Geet Sethi (Ind) bt Suriya Suwannasingh (Thai) 4 – 0 (152 (130 UF) – 21, 153 (68 UF) – 82 (72), 150 (68) – 64, 150 (146 UF) – 58;

Alok Kumar (Ind) bt Prem Prakash (Ind) 4 – 2 (36 – 151 (61), 34 – 152 (72), 151 – 109, 151 (85) – 72, 150 (92) – 68, 151 (99) – 84);

Rupesh Shah (Ind) bt B.Bhaskar (Ind) 4 – 0 (150– 100, 150 (108 UF) – 73, 150 (136) – 149 (147), 151 (113 UF) – 29;

Peter Gilchrist (S’pore) bt Sourav Kothari (Ind) 4 – 2 (42 – 150 (78), 129 – 150 (59), 151 (62, 55) – 105 (83), 152 (68) – 60, 150 (124 UF) – 20, 150 (150) – 41;

Praprut Chaithanasakun (Thai) bt Brijesh Damani (Ind) 4 – 2 (40 – 153 (58), 151 (89 UF) – 122 (51), 86 – 151 (62, 64), 150 (100 UF) – 74, 152 – 82, 151 (145) – 17;

Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) bt Teik Chong Alan Puan (S’pore) 4 – 1 (151– 135, 151 – 127, 151 (74) – 44, 117 – 150, 151 (125) – 40);

Devendra Joshi (Ind) bt Shyam Jagtiani (Ind) 4 – 3 (79 – 150 (67), 126 (56) – 150 (82), 07 – 150 (143), 150 – 37, 150 – 97, 150 (87) – 32, 151 (123) – 19).

Semi finals line-up: Geet Sethi vs Devendra Joshi; Pankaj Advani vs Rupesh Shah.