Indian cueists had mixed fortunes in the quarter-finals of 23rd Asian Snooker Championships in Karachi on Friday.

While former champion Yasin Merchant made it to the semi-finals, Alok Kumar failed to advance, going down to Pakistan's Khurram Agha in a thrilling contest at the Darbar Hall of Sheraton Hotel.

Agha won 33-67, 76-47, 59-14, 30-6, 57-58, 38-66, 78-20, 71-68, 73-43 to set up a meeting with Merchant in Saturday's best-of-11 frames' semi-finals.

Merchant, who was champion in 1989 and 2001, also went through a torrid time before beating China's Liu Chuang 5-4 (38-86, 13-75, 77-0, 63-08, 17-82, 28-70, 71-25, 63-25, 87-20), in his quarter-final.

China's Jin Long will take on Supoj Saenia of Thailand in the other semi-final.

Newcomer Saenia had the easiest of passages to the semi-finals, beating Muhammad Shehab (UAE) 5-0 (93-08, 70-19, 65-21, 52-38, 98-04), while Long beat Keith Boon  (Singapore) 5-4 (32-93, 55-28, 68-41, 47-61, 84-11, 45-62, 57-12. 64-34) in the other two quarter-finals.