Sourav storms into maiden World Billiards Championship final

 After upsetting tournament favourite Pankaj Advani, reigning National Champion Sourav Kothari barged into semifinals defeating compatriot Dhvaj Haria 1250-816 in the Long-Up Format of the IBSF World Billiards Championship here today.

Sourav, who could have won the game rather easily with a lead of 1200 against 595, missed a shot and had to wait for scoring his last 50 points, but not before Dhvaj had posted a break of 221.

In his second visit itself, Sourav posted first century break to take initial lead and maintained it till he reached 360 against 10 within a total of seven visits.

The big lead placed Sourav in a comfort zone and picked up points at regular intervals, even as Dhvaj was finding it difficult to put himself back on track with ever increasing lead which he had to deal with every time he visited the green baize.

Dhvaj struggled to convert his starts into big breaks, but managed to reduce the deficit with a break of 151 points in 26th visit.

Sourav was quick to post another break of 228 points and once again widened the gap to almost double.

Dhvaj's struggle continued and none of his break crossed the 50 points whereas Sourav constantly hammering with similar points breaks to keep the lead intact and ultimately won the match.