Advani enters final with second world title in sight

Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani on stormed into the finals of the IBSF World Snooker championships after defeating Rodney Goggins of Ireland 7-4 in Damascus, Syria.

Advani, who won the billiards singles gold in Asian Games last month, won 53-41, 77-44, 48-90, 114-08, 52-44, 32-81, 19-61, 60-18, 22-69, 89-01, 59-08 in the best-of-13 frames semi-final.

The 25-year-old Bangalorean will now meet Dechawat Poomajaeng of Thailand in the best-of-19 frames summit clash on Thursday.

Poomajaeng defeated his compatriot Noppadol Sangnil 7-5 in the other last-four match.

Advani had topped Group E by winning all six matches and then got the better of Mohammed Joaker of the UAE 5-4 in the round of 32 match.

In the quarter-final, he had crushed the challenge of Moh Keen Hoo of Malaysia 6-1 in the best-of-11 frame contest.

The 2003 champion Advani had taken a strong 4-2 lead against Goggins after the first session of the semi-final on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in the women's event, national champion Vidya Pillai crashed out of the semi-finals, losing 25-64, 7-67, 19-59, 41-84, to Ng On Yee.