Pankaj Advani clinches thriller,enters final

Earlier,16-year-old Thai challenger Noppom Saegkham of Thailand kept up his splendid run as he crushed India’s junior national champion Shabaaz Khan by a stunning 5-nil margin to storm into the final. Saegkham awaits the winner of the match between world Under-21 runners up Anda Zhang of China against Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon of Thailand in the final. Saegkham,ranked third in his country,gave the Indian junior champion no chance in what turned out to be a one-sided affair in the nine-frame encounter. He won 59-39,61-58,73-0,94-24 and 72-34.

The only time Shabaaz gave a glimpse of a fight-back was in the second frame. He failed to clear a red and the Thai snatched the opportunity to pocket the red with a flourish and clean the table for a 61-58 lead.

The Thai youngster,after having run into a three nil lead was in his element in the fourth frame when making breaks of 61 in his first visit to the table. He followed it up with 33 in the fourth visit to take a stranglehold over the match. The decisive fifth frame saw him take just 34 points break to win the match.

Results: Asian Under 21 Snooker: semi-finals: Noppom Saegkham (Thai) beat Shahabaaz Khan (India) 5-0 (59-39,61-58,73-0,94-24,72-34).

Asian Billiards (Semi-finals) Pankaj Advani (India) C Prafut(Thai) 5-3 (101(83)-4,102(86)-75,101(96)-33,73-100,82-100,80-101,101(77)-85(85),101(94)-56.