National champion Alok Kumar and fellow-Indian Ashok Shandilya entered the points format semi-finals of the World professional billiards championship here Tuesday with contrasting victories.
Alok Kumar overcame Nalin Patel (England) 1000-490, aided by three century breaks while Shandilya edged out compatriot Sourav Kothari 1000-989 in a nail-biting match.
In the semi-finals that will be played on a 1250-up basis, Alok Kumar takes on Singapore's Peter Gilchrist who overcame Rupesh Shah 1000-853, while Shandilya goes up against Englishman David Causier who defeated Balachandra Bhaskar 1000-636.
Shandilya, a former World champion, rode his luck and experience to see off Kothari's late challenge as the pair was tied at 989.
After a few blank visits, Shandilya posted breaks of 5, 5 and 2 to scramble to victory. Kothari, who had leveled after a break of 45, had his chances, but could not cash in on them.
The results (with high breaks):
Quarter-finals (1000-up): David Causier (ENG) bt Balachandra Bhaskar 1000 (200, 118, 102)-636 (209, 185, 119); Alok Kumar bt Nalin Patel (ENG) 1000 (112, 140, 166)-490; Peter Gilchrist (SING) bt Rupesh Shah 1000 (108, 102, 102)-853 (141, 102, 102); Ashok Shandilya bt Sourav Kothari 1000 (135, 127, 109)-989 (243).
Pre-quarter-finals (750-up): Shandilya bt Dhvaj Haria 750-609; Gilchrist bt Phil Mumford (ENG) 750 (123, 106)-558 (168); Bhaskar bt Robert Hall (ENG) 750 (201, 112, 159)-536 (102, 103); Alok Kumar bt Dhruv Sitwala 750 (125)-458; Shah bt Geet Sethi 750 (189)-536 (100); Kothari bt Arun Agarwal 750 (101, 129)-448; Patel bt Mathew Bolton (AUS) 750 (136, 117)-742 (142, 164, 171, 101); Causier bt Martin Goodwill (ENG) 750 (152, 139, 193)-207.
Round of 32 (Indian matches - 500-up): Gilchrist bt Aditya Agarwal 500 (280)-106; Patel bt Siddharth Parikh 500-383; Sethi bt Neil Bolton (AUS) 500 (263)-182; Shah bt Long Nguyen Thanh (VIE) 500 (214, 195)-128; Mumford bt Raj Kumar 500-215; Sitwala w/o Chris Taylor (ENG); Kothari bt Jamie Baker (ENG) 500 (112)-180; Shandilya bt Binh Nguyen Thanh (VIE) 500 (190)-220; Bhaskar bt Devendra Joshi 500 (106)-400; Alok Kumar bt Nam Pham Hoai (VIE) 500 (131)-263; Hall bt Subramaniam Venkateswaran 500 (140)-198; Haria bt Steve Brookshaw (ENG) 500 (228)-290 (111); Arun Agarwal bt Michael Pearson (AUS) 500-396.
