Advani, Sethi in semis of World Billiards C`ship

Pune: Defending champion Pankaj Advani and veteran Geet Sethi stormed into the semifinals of the time format in the IBSF World Billiards Championship after scoring contrasting wins. Sethi defeated compatriot Ashok Shandilya by a huge margin of 1230 points, while Advani beat another Indian Rupesh Shah by 595 points after trailing nearly by 170 points at the PYC Gymkhana Club. Sethi will now take on Singapore`s Peter Gilchrist, who got the better of Dhruv Sitwala and Advani will taken on 10-time world champion British cueist Mike Russell. Russell got the better of Myanmar`s Kyaw Oo in his quarter-final encounter. Advani fired an unfinished break of 709 enroute to his win over Rupesh. Rupesh was on a high after scoring breaks of 121, 75, 97 and 163 early on as the two moved neck-and-neck before Advani produced his memorable break. Advani was down by 114 points when he got into his groove and went on to eat the remaining time showing impeccable ball control and understanding of the roll of green baize on table five.With handful of enthusiast watching the innings, Advani took himself by surprise as he had been struggling to get past the 400-mark. "This break has come at a right time and I hope it will help me in the next match," said Advani after beating Rupesh 1279-684. On table one, Sethi was at his immaculate best in shutting out Shandilya 1658-455 with six century breaks, including three double tons. However, there was heartbreak for Sitwala who failed to carry on with the momentum he had started and lost to former world champion Gilchrist by mere 20 points. Gilchrist had started with a 205 and then a 268, but Sitawala showed he had in him to challenge the best.Following his 109 in the early visit, the Indian posted 316 and added 118 and 93 to take 120 point lead, before losing out on time. Gilchrist took the opportunity and went about utilizing the remaining time by posting an unfinished break of 145. Results: Quarter-finals: Geet Sethi (Ind) bt Ashok Shandilya (Ind) 1658 (192, 230, 221, 127, 78, 152, 74, 52, 245, 52)-455 (44). Peter Gilchrist (Sin) bt Dhruv Sitwala (Ind) 851 (205, 89, 268, 145)-831 (109, 66, 316, 59, 118, 93). Mike Russell (Eng) bt Kyaw Oo (Mya) 1127 (231, 633, 79)-850 (78, 239, 187, 95, 109). Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Rupesh Shah (Ind) 1279 (79, 49, 103, 89, 69, 709*)-684 (121, 75, 97, 163). PTI