Young Turks, Action Jacksons storm into semi-final

Mumbai, Feb 19 (UNI) Young Turks Pankaj Advani and Manan Chandra topped Group 'B' to storm into the semi-final of the inaugural Yasin Merchant Classic Invitation Snooker Doubles Tournament at the Islam Gymkhana here today.

Strong title contenders and favourites from the Group of Death, Turks overcame Towering Titans Geet Sethi and Aditya Mehta in their concluding tie to take their tally to 39 from all five wins in the league to book their berth in the last four.

Chandra's break of 109 in the third frame, in the best-of-five frames contest, was the feature of Turks' win over Titans, who earned one point and crashed out of contention.

There was a thrilling battle for the second semi-final spot in Group 'B' as Bengali Babus and Dynamic Duo were breathtakingly close to qualifying.

Babus, who have completed their league engagements, have 18 points to their credit, while Dynamic Duo, who are 14 points, need five points more with their last match in hand against Southern Stars.

In contrast, Indian Lions Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar earned 25 points from four wins and a loss to top Group 'A' to qualify for the semi-finals.

Lions, who won their first four ties on the trot, were shocked by Steady Eddies Rupesh Shah and Rafath Habib in the fifth and concluding league match, though the defeat did not block Lions' path to the last four.

Action Jacksons Sarang Shroff and Kamal Chawla finished second with 18 points in Group 'A' to qualify for the semi-finals.

Action Jacksons will take on Young Turks in the semi-finals, while Indian Lions await Bengali Babus or Dynamic Duo.

Results: Group 'A': Action Jacksons (Sarang Shroff/Kamal Chawla) bt Super Siblings (Meenal Thakur/Anuja Chandra) 75-56, 74-58, 87-68, 90-49, 5-90; Cool Cats (Lucky Vatnani/Amit Saboo) bt Junior Jacks (Rishabh Pandya/Hasan Badami) 85-2, 48-62, 61-22, 79-9, 63-21; Steady Eddies (Rupesh Shah/Rafath Habib) bt Indian Lions (Yasin Merchant/Alok Kumar) 44-57, 66-38, 57-47, 56-44, 66-14.

Group 'B': Bengali Babus (Sourav Kothari/Shahbaz Khan) bt Sharp Shooter (Shravan Mohta/Brijesh Damani) 75-41, 99-16, 89-15, 39-57, 66-24; Young Turks (Pankaj Advani/Manan Chandra) bt Sharp Shooters 60-12, 81-36, 53-20, 9-70, 66-51.

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