Chennai, Dec 9:
Pankaj Advani is on course to regain the 6-Red snooker crown in the 90th National Billiards & Snooker Championships, as the 26-time IBSF world champion moved into the semifinals on Friday with a 6-4 win over his Petroleum Sports Promotion Board teammate Brijesh Damani.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Advani, runner-up last year, will meet Malkeet Singh (RSPB), who moved into the last-four stage with a 6-3 win over Younis Nazir Kuchey (J&K). Aditya Mehta (PSPB) will take on E Pandurangaiah (RSPB) in the second semifinal. The final is scheduled to be played at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Results: 6-Red Snooker – Men: Quarterfinals: E Pandurangaiah (RSPB) bt Md Hussain Khan (RSPB) 6-3 (9-50, 34-15, 59-8, 26-45, 36-41, 42-5, 33-17, 43-21, 67-21); Malkeet Singh (RSPB) bt Younis Nazir Kuchey (J&K) 6-3 (35-45, 49-5, 20-38, 59-4, 39-38, 38-32, 4-45, 46-10, 44-38); Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Muddasir Ashiq (J&K) 6-4 (16-50, 20-42, 43-14, 0-54, 43-32, 1-44, 67-0, 71-0, 36-23, 46-7); Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Brijesh Damani (PSPB) 6-4 (1-60, 37-12, 32-11, 51-7, 47-14, 41-24, 5-39, 5-43, 0-43, 75-0).
Pre-quarterfinals: Aditya Mehta bt Anurag Giri (MP) 5-1; Muddasir Ashiq bt Dhvaj Haria (PSPB) 5-4; Pandurangaiah bt Adarsh Verma (WB) 5-4; Md Hussain Khan bt Yogesh Kumar (Kar) 4-3; Pankaj Advani bt Ketan Chawla (MP) 5-1; Brijesh Damani bt Divya Sharma (Har) 5-3; Malkeet Singh bt Rakesh K (TN) 5-2; Younis Nazir Kuchey bt Rayaan Razmi (Mah) 5-2.
