Manan shown door, Pankaj storms into semis

Bangalore, Jan 31: In a major upset, defending champion Manan Chandra of the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) was shown the door by Yasin Merchant of Maharashtra (5-3), even as World Snooker Champion Pankaj Advani stormed into the semifinals of the 73rd Senior National Snooker Championship played at KSBA here today.

Though Manan opened the two-hour battle with a bang winning the first frame 98-0 with break at 64, Asian Games medallist Yasin bounced back to clinch the second, third and fourth frames with break in second frame (79). However, Manan succeeded to win the fifth and sixth (54-42, 73-38). Yasin, who was not ready to give up, pulled up his socks to win the eighth and ninth frames to enter the last four stage.

Pankaj stormed into the semifinals, trouncing Statemate D Raj Kumar (5-1). He won the first frame (72-1), but lost the second (51-84). However, he regained his tempo to win the next four frames consecutively to storm into the last four stage (128-3, 72-5, 80-12, 88-40).

Results: Men: (Quarterfinals): Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Manan Chandra (PSPB) 5-3 (98 (B64)-00, 00-83 (74), 72-39, 87-36, (B73), 42-54, 38-73 (B67), 59-42, 71 (B44)-15; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt D Raj Kumar (Kar) 5-1 (72-1, 51-84, 128-3, 72-5, 80-12, 88-40) Pre-Quarters: Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Nadeem Ahmed (TN) 4-1 (52-17, 82-01 (B-78), 86-13, 37-64, 72-02); Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Siddharth Anand (Del) 4-0 (63-50, 82-01, 84-17 (B-84), 81-57 (B-66); Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Dharminder Lilly (Pun) 4-2 (77 (B-41)-49, 75-35 (B-61), 47-57, 55-69, 77-09, 65-15); Rupesh Shah (Guj) bt B V Srinivasa Murthy (Kar) 4-2 (41-74, 50-42, 69-27, 23-69, 54-49, 64-50); Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Aditya Mehta (Mah) 4-2 (38-105, 100-01, 06-86 (B-65), 62-10, 77-53 (B-46), 58-43); D Raj Kumar (Kar) bt Sourav Kothari (PSPB) 4-1 (68-40 (B-41), 59-46, 68 (B-49) -74 (B-45), 61-31, 77-41) Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Prem Prakash (TN) 4-3 (41-72, 51-15, 22-66 (B-52), 65-53, 74-25, 32-67 (B-60), 79-36); Sarang Shroff (Mah) bt Brijesh Damani (WB) 4-0 (98-13, 66-17 (B-46), 69-51, 61-44).

UNI