Reigning champion Pankaj Advani outclasses Iran’s Shahin Sabzi 4-0 to storm into the final of the Asian Snooker Championships in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.
In the title clash on Wednesday, the Indian ace takes on the winner of the other semifinal between Amir Sarkhosh of Iran and China’s Deng Haohui. Sarkhosh was up 3-2 when reports last came in.
Although the semifinal never rose to any great heights, Advani, a three-time champion, was the dominant player. His inexperienced rival, who threw caution to the wind and played one too many attacking shots, played right into Advani’s hands.
Advani, for some strange reason, was not at his best in the semis. The fluidity with which he demolished Mohamed Shehab of UAE in the quarters earlier in the morning, was missing. However, the Indian did make the most of the chances that came his way to come through in straight frames.
He rifled in a frame-clinching 50 break following an error from Sabzi in the first frame. After winning the scrappy second, Advani came up with a break of 56 before missing the black while trying to screw back for the last red near the bottom cushion. However, that was enough to take a 3-0 lead.
In the fourth frame, both players made too many errors, but Advani, leading 39-18, snookered the Iranian behind the green to run away with the match.
Keerthana keeps winning
In the women’s section, a 10-red event, India’s Keerthana Pandian overcame Hong Kong’s Wan ka Kai 2-1 for her second straight win in Group ‘D’.
The Kolar girl was slow to start with, losing the opening frame of the best-of-three-frame league clash. Once she found her rhythm and range, Keerthana was a different player. She levelled frame scores with a break of 31 and then played the big points well in the decider to close out the match.
Anupama Ramachandran, who suffered a defeat in her opening match, bounced back to score a 2-1 win over Setayesh Amirazimi. She scored a fluent 72 break in the third frame.
Results (Indians unless mentioned): Men (semifinals): Pankaj Advani beat Shahin Sabzi (Irn) 4-0 (77 (50) -32, 64-13, 73 (56) -50, 74-18). Quarterfinals: Advani beat Mohamed Shehab (UAE) 4-0 (109 (104) -1, 74 (58) -0, 72-14, 57-25). Pre-quarterfinals: Advani beat Ahmed Saif (Qat) 4-1 (93 (89) -0, 82-32, 25-53, 106 (61) -9, 89 (89) -0).
U-21: Group F: Shahab Ali Esmaeli (Irn) beat Jabez Naveen Kumar 3-2 (72-20, 47-59, 30-54, 60-35, 48-32).
Group H: Cao Zeyi (Chn) beat Rahul Williams 3-0 (64-36, 66-38, 69-38).
Women: Group A: Narantuya Bayarsaikhan (Mgl) beat Aanya Patel 2-1 (59-21, 36-53, 48-29).
Group B: Anupama Ramachandran beat Setayesh Amirazimi (Irn) 2-1 (34-38, 59-13, 72 (72) -0).
Group D: Keerthana Pandian beat Wan Ka Kai (HK) 2-1 (35-40, 51 (31) -24, 42-22); So Man Yan (HK) beat Snenthra Babu 2-0 (47-21, 50-43).
