Pankaj Advani of PSPB was forced to take the long route by a fighting Dharminder Lilly of Punjab in the semifinals of the BRC Gloster National billiards and snooker championship at the BRC here on Friday.
Giant-killer Varun Madan, who came through the qualifying round, also made the final by downing Manan Chandra of PSPB 5-4.
The contestants had a tough time as they played both the quarterfinals and the semifinals the same day.
“It was not a great day, but sometimes you just have to put your head down and do your best,” said Advani, looking for his seventh snooker title. “The back-to-back schedule of the quarterfinals and the semifinals is quite exhausting,” he said
After losing the first frame, Advani took the next three to lead 3-1 before Lilly staged a remarkable recovery to level 3-3.
The two traded the next two frames (4-4). The decider saw both making lot of mistakes. But Advani cashed in on one of them to take the frame and the match (5-4).
Madan, who defeated India No. 2 Kamal Chawla in the quarterfinals, stood out with his aggressive game and high-class potting.
After losing the first game, Madan took the next two. Chandra won the fourth, and the fifth went to Madan.
Chandra used his experience to snatch the sixth and seventh frames.
But Madan fought back strongly to claim the eighth and the ninth frames to clinch the issue.
The results:Semifinals (best of nine frames): Pankaj Advani (PSPB) bt Dharminder Lilly (Pun) 13-67, 58-12, 55-8, 86(68)-7, 21-68, 30-68, 87-0, 5-70, 76-37; Varun Madan (Del) bt Manan Chandra (PSPB) 50-62, 73-21, 97-4, 10-69, 54-40, 15-75, 37-74, 81-48, 61-02.
Quarterfinals: Advani bt Faisal Khan (RSPB) 61 (61)-72, 147 (143)-00, 66 (61)-32, 11-77, 78 (74)-20, 66-59, 72-02; Lilly bt Shahbaaz Adil Khan (PSPB) 61-18, 83-34, 68-24, 79-08, 85-00; Chandra bt Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 40-60, 17-68, 75-37, 65 (52)-01, 69-44, 59-49, 48-34; Madan bt Kamal Chawla (RSPB) 30-72, 86 (77)-02, 85-40, 32-62, 60-21, 40-74, 64-59, 68-43.
