During the three and a half-hour encounter, Alok made just one mistake which proved fatal especially with Praprut for competition. Due credit should also go to the former Thai National champion. He came up with superlative performances when down in dumps to keep his hopes alive of claiming the Rs 45,000 winner's cheque.

The turning point of the match came when Alok, ahead 4-3 on frames and 48-20 in the eighth, missed the pink ball. It wobbled between the cushion near the top right pocket before rolling out.

From thereon it was a spirited Praprut who did most of the scoring. A vital break of 12 reduced the margin. He hammered the final nail into Alok's coffin with a break of 25 to push the match into the decider.

The initiative lost in that frame seemed tohave drained Alok's spirit as he missed one shot after another in the final frame. Praprut rubbed it in further with a break of 47 to seal Alok's fate.

Earlier, the Thai dished out a 112 break pocketing 14 reds and reds alternatively. The fine run came to an end with the black resting slightly out of position and Praprut missing out on the pink while going for a double on the centre pocket.

Nevertheless, it was the first break to cross the 111 mark and he qualified for a Rs 5,000 special prize.

But tougher battles lies ahead for Praprut as he takes on Peter Gilchrist in the first semi-final. The Briton squashed the challenge of Siddharth Rao 5-1 in a one-sided fight. Rao played well only in spurts and his inconsistency never posed much of a threat to his more renowned opponent.

Asiad double gold medallist Ashok Shandilya takes on Sarang Shroff in the other semi-final match later in the day.

Snooker SF line-up

Ashok Shandilya vs Sarang Shroff; Peter Gilchrist vs CPraprut

Results

Snooker (QF): Peter Gilchrist (UK) bt Siddharth Rao (Ind) 5-1 (60-47, 59-1, 6-77, 45-44, 63-24, 54-49); C Praprut (Thai) bt Alok Kumar (Ind) 5-4 (60-48, 76-52, 1-61, 42-80, 45-65, 112-1, 13-62, 63-50, 58-6)