Sitwala, Parikh enter Australian Open billiards semifinals

It was double delight for Indian cueists at the Australian Open Billiards Championship today as Dhruv Sitwala and Siddhartha Parikh made the semifinals in the five-day event at the Yarraville Club here.

The left-handed Sitwala outplayed Todd Hayward 4-2 in the quarterfinals to set up a last-four clash with Mathew Bolton of Australia, while former Railways champion Parikh defeated Australia's Steve Mifsud 4-2 to book a semifinal berth against English-born Singaporean cueist Peter Gilchrist.

Earlier, other Indians in the fray, Devendra Joshi lost to Gilchrist in the best-of-seven quarterfinals while Dhvaj Haria was done in by Todd Hayward in the last-16 encounter.
 

Joshi (154) though was on top of the list of highest breaks followed by Parikh (153).

The semifinals will be a best-of-nine encounter, while the final will be a best-of-11 affair slated for tomorrow.