Pankaj Advani stormed into the semifinals of the 2010 National billiards championship with an authoritative 4-1 victory over Ashok Shandilya of Railways.
In the semifinal, the former IBSF Wrld billiards champion will run into Dhruv Sitwala, who edged out Geet Sethi 4-2 in a lacklustre contest.
In the lower half, B. Bhaskar exhibited rare resilience against former IBSF Wrld champion Rupesh Shah to convert a 1-2 deficit into a remarkable 4-2 victory. In the other semifinal, Bhaskar will meet Alok Kumar, who blanked Shyam Jagtiani 4-0 in a one-sided contest.
After the setback of having lost both his IBSF world titles in the space of four days last week, Advani had been somewhat subdued in the run-up to the knockout stage of the ongoing Nationals at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana.
The 25-year-old was seeded fourth when the re-seeding was done on the basis of best performances in the league matches.
Fluency and control
On Friday, Advani displayed superb rhythm, fluency and control while compiling runs of 151 unfinished, 105, 131 and 147 unfinished to score a compelling victory against a fighting Shandilya whose lone effort of 141 earned him the third game.
From Advani's perspective, it was a timely return to form, which will enable him to start rebuilding his confidence after the 6-0 defeat against Russell in the final of the IBSF World point format, and the 117-point reversal again at Russell's hands in the time format.
Dhruv Sitwala has never defeated Advani in the Nationals and to overcome this gritty cueist, who seems to have ‘resilience' as his middle name, Sitwala will need to play far better than he did against Sethi.
The clash between Bhaskar and Shah was clearly the showpiece match on Friday morning. Bhaskar took the opening game with the aid of an 81 but then Shah fired in two breaks of 150 to win the second and third to enjoy a 2-1 advantage.
Shah compiled those breaks showing great determination and it seemed a foregone conclusion that he would wrap up the match swiftly.
However, a missed red pot in the top pocket when his total score was 102 offered the first chance of recovery to Bhaskar, which the Bangalore-based cueist accepted with great relief.
Winning that crucial fourth game 150-102 and more significantly levelling game scores at 2-2 Bhaskar then responded with an unfinished 150 to enjoy a 3-2 lead. Shah fought back with a break of 124 but went out of position. Bhaskar pipped him 151-126 to earn the right to play Alok Kumar.
The results: Quarterfinals: Dhruv Sitwala beat Geet Sethi 4-2 (151(98)- 47, 31-151(114), 43-150(108), 152(101)-60, 152-73, 151-116); Pankaj Advani beat Ashok Shandilya 4-1 (151(151)-28, 152(105)-73, 150(131)-54, 21-150(141), 151(147)-0;
B. Bhaskar beat Rupesh Shah 4-2 (151(81)-21, 0-150(150), 21-150(150), 152-102, 150(150) - 3, 151-126(124)); Alok Kumar beat Shyam Jagtiani 4-0 (152(150)- 29, 151(94)-100, 151(80) - 70, 150-34).
