Snooker: Advani, Mehta, Rawat and Damani enter Kolkata Open semis

Pankaj Advani, Aditya Mehta, Brijesh Damani and Laxman Rawat on Saturday qualified for the semi-finals of the 3rd Kolkata Open National Invitation Snooker Championship at the Bengal Rowing Club.

In the quarter-finals, Advani blanked Siddharth Parikh 4-0, while Rawat got the better of Sourav Kothari with a 4-2 scoreline.

Damani defeated Faisal Khan 4-2 while Mehta prevailed 4-3 over Kamal Chawla in a closely fought match that went the full distance.

Advani was on top of his game against experienced campaigner Parikh who could do little as the 16-time world champion cueist completed a 4-0 whitewash.

Rawat defeated Kolkata boy Sourav Kothari. After losing the first frame, Kothari raised hopes by taking the next two frames, but there was no stopping the Delhi cueist who won three frames consecutively.

In the third quarter-final, Khan drew first blood but Damani won the next three. Khan fought back to take the fourth frame, but Brijesh convincingly won the sixth frame 101-04.

The last quarter-final between Mehta and Chawla saw a see-saw battle with neither player conceding an inch. Mehta won the first frame but Chawla won the next two. Mehta came back strongly and won the next two frames but Chawla leveled the score winning the sixth frame. However, it was not his day as Mehta played fluently to pocket the decider 66-10.

--IANS

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