Rupesh Shah recorded another sensational come-from-behind win to pip Thawat Sujaritthurakarn and reach the final of the ONGC Asian billiards championship at the Indore Tennis Club here on Saturday.
National champion Alok Kumar also warded off a strong challenge from former World champion Praput Chaithanasukan in the other best-of-nine-frame semifinal contest to ensure an all-Indian final on Sunday.
It was Rupesh who faced tough opponents in back-to-back matches.
Trailing 0-3, the reigning world champion overcame the pressure to win five frames in a row and beat the Thai 0-101, 27-100, 83-100, 102-18, 101-3, 100-26, 101-17, 101-86. Rupesh gained from Sujaritthurakarn’s mistakes in the fourth frame and gathered two 30-odd breaks to keep his hopes alive.
Hereafter, Rupesh got into a nice rhythm and collected points fluently until the eighth frame, where the Thai came up with some decent breaks to take a lead of 47 points.
However, Sujaritthurakarn faltered at 86 and Rupesh made the most of the opportunity to score a match-winning break of 60 points.
The results:
Billiards (semifinals): Alok Kumar (Ind) bt Praput Chaithanasukan (Thai) 101 (61)-47, 11-100 (59), 0-100 (100), 104 (71)-19, 102 (82)-38, 26-102 (92), 100 (100)-0, 101-35; Rupesh Shah (Ind) bt Thawat Sujaritthurakarn (Thai) 0-101 (97), 27-100 (98), 83-100, 102-18, 101 (84)-3, 100 (97)-26, 101 (101)-17, 101 (60)-86. Under-21 snooker: Quarterfinals: Zhu Yinghui (Chn) bt Zhou Yuelong (Chn) 74-24, 140 (69)-0, 61-78 (32), 66 (54)-63, 38-77 (64), 95 (76)-25, 39-75 (70), 69-70 (42), 74-9; Muhammad Majid Ali (Pak) t Lu Ning (Chn) 76-26, 26-81 (61), 19-76 (58), 77-28, 77-48, 66-29, 94-0; Ratchayothin Yotharuck (Thai) bt Khalid Kamali (UAE) 69 (65)-2, 7-59, 49-32, 69 (55)-52 (52), 23-65, 42-74 (74), 8-57, 82-33, 93 (54)-0; Noppon Saengkham (Thai) bt Boonyarit Keattikul (Thai) 75-49, 82 (52)-16, 59-24, 32-104 (86), 29-60, 65 (54)-5, 115-0.
