Defending champion Alok Kumar of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) and his teammate Devendra Joshi will clash in the snooker (senior) final of the National Snooker and Billiards Championship at the Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai on Sunday.
In the semi-finals on Saturday local cueist Joshi beat Aditya Mehta of Maharashtra 5-3 while in the other semi-final Alok Kumar beat back a determined challenge from his teammate Pankaj Advani with an identical scoreline.
Joshi, who was leading comfortably at 4-0, had breaks of 42 and 62 in the second and third frames while Mehta, who fought back into the match winning fifth, sixth and seventh frames, had a break of 86 in the sixth.
Joshi won 63-23 72-40 86-7 72-1 41-68 4-97 3-68 68-14.
Alok Kumar staved off a late comeback bid by the in-form Advani before cruising to a 72-29 77-29 28-68 75-67 21-70 8-122 69-41 79-0 win in an exciting first semi-final.
His significant break of 60 in the second frame reflected rather early that he was in no mood to give Advani a leeway.
Karnataka-based Advani, who was hoping to add the senior snooker crown to the junior billiards and snooker and senior billiards titles he already has pocketed, came back into the match and uncorked a mouth-watering unfinished 122 in the sixth frame to level at 3-3.
That effort, after trailing 1-3, set the stage for yet another cliffhanger. But Alok, the current Asian champion, returned to snatch the next two frames and seal Advani's fate.
Kumar had a break of 64 in the eighth frame.
Senior snooker (semi-finals): Devendra Joshi (PSPB) bt Aditya Mehta (Mah) 63-23, 72-40, 86-7, 72-1, 41-68, 4-97, 3-68, 68-14; Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 72-29, 77-29, 28-68, 75-67, 21-70, 8-122, 69-41, 79-0.
5-8 play-off: Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Rupesh Shah (Guj) 80-29, 67-33; Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Rupesh Shah 0-53, 78-39, 78-21; Yasin Merchant bt Neeraj Kumar (Bihar) 52-50, 57-49; Neeraj Kumar bt Manan Chandra 66-45, 14-72, 49-48.
