Bangalore-based young cueist Pankaj Advani of Petroleum Sports Promotion Board caused a major upset, defeating seven-time World champion Geet Sethi 1595-822 in the semi-finals of the National billiards championship, at the Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai on Friday.
Advani, who had won the junior national billiards and snooker titles earlier, will now take on the seasoned Devendra Joshi, also of PSPB, in the final.
Joshi defeated Ashok Shandilya of Railways 944-364 in the other semi-final.
The nineteen-year-old Advani, a former IBSF World snooker champion, romped to a stunning victory over a completely off-colour Sethi. He anchored himself with a comfortable 500-plus lead at the half-way stage and substantially enhanced the advantage in the second session.
With Sethi not looking in best of form, the contest disappointingly resulted in an anti-climax as everyone expected Sethi to beat his younger and lesser-experienced adversary.
Sethi, till date the only player in the current edition to register the highest break -- a 310, experienced indifferent form and though he came up with two late century breaks was unable to threaten Advani's progress to the final.
In the other semi-final, Joshi, riding high on his much-talked about back-to-back wins in the pre-quarter and quarter-finals, extended his impressive form yet again to destroy the formidable Shandilya.
Joshi carried the fine form he enjoyed over the last couple of days and was always in command. He maintained a firm grip as he rifled in significant breaks at regular intervals.
Joshi constructed breaks of 98, 234, 115, 281 and 97 while Shandilya replied with a solitary 120 before complaining of a sudden illness and conceding the tie.
Results (all semi-finals): Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 944 (98, 234, 115, 281, 97) bt Ashok Shandilya (Rlys) 364 (120), conceded; Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 1595 (75, 90, 353, 88, 89, 94, 119, 59, 59) bt Geet Sethi (Guj) 822 (96, 71, 126, 65, 104).
