Advani, Joshi in semis of Asian billiards

Former champion Pankaj Advani and Devender Joshi entered the semi-finals in the 11th Asian Billiards Championship in Miramar, Goa, on Friday.

In a much-awaited clash between two former World billiards champions, Advani, having done thorough homework before the match, produced a gem of a century break to gain early ascendancy over Peter Gilchrist of Singapore.

Continuing in the same vein, he had good breaks of 54 in the second and 86 in the third games to take a commanding 3-0 lead.

Gilchrist, still to recover from the shock defeat suffered at the hands of Thawat on Thursday evening, was unable to find his usual rhythmic flow in the first three games. He did manage to get one back though, by prevailing in the fourth game, but Advani, with a break of 97, took the fifth.

Gilchrist, however, struck a purple patch, and compiled a break of 99 to close the gap to 2-4.

The seventh game saw him shape of a break of 76, but lapse into errors. Advani promptly got into his stride and unleashed an unfinished century break to clinch the game and match.

In another quarter-final between two Indian contenders, Joshi got the better of Rupesh Shah 5-3 to also make the last-four stage at the Clube Tennis De Gaspar Dias.

Having surprised Gilchrist in his earlier league encounter, Thawat Sujaritthurakarn from Thailand was steadiness personified as he beat India's Dhruv Sitwala 5-1.