Advani ousts Goggins to march into title round

Vidya Pillai defeats Wendy Jans to claim third place in womens event

Leading 4-2 after the end of the first session in the best-of-13 frames contest, the 2003 champion returned in the evening to polish off the Irishman 53-41, 77 (61)-44, 48-90, 114-8, 52-44, 32-81, 19-61 (54), 60-18, 22-69 (54), 89-1, 59 (58)-8.

Undefeated so far, Advani faced Thailand’s Dechawat Poomajaeng in the title clash on Wednesday. According to information available here, the Thai cueist had his nose in front, just marginally though with a 5-4 lead in the best-of-19 frames tie after the first session of the final.

Earlier, Dechawat had defeated his compatriot Noppadol Sangnil 7-5 (40-66, 66-6, 19-64, 78-5, 68 (53)-56, 37-84, 5-107 (60), 73 (68)-17, 88 (33)-17, 63-56, 39-77, 73-7) in a keenly contested semifinal.

Advani, the 2003 champion,  didn’t post any major breaks in the semfinal but controlled the game brilliantly to emerge a clear winner. He quickly raced away to a 2-0 lead before Goggins bouned back in the third frame to pull things at 1-2.

Advani then won the next two frames, before Goggins pulled another back to close the morning session. Upon resumption, Goggins started postively,  narrowing Advani’s lead to 3-4.  Advani won the eighth but Goggins took the ninth when the former pulled clear to race away to a 7-4 win.

Meanwhile, Vidya Pillai finished with a bronze after beating Belgium’s Wendy Jans 3-1 (68-54, 17-67, 67 (46)-38, 65-7) in the third-place playoff.

Results:

Men, semifinals: Dechawat Poomajaeng (Tha) bt Noppadol Sangnil (Tha) 7-5 (40-66, 66-6, 19-64, 78-5, 68 (53)-56, 37-84, 5-107 (60), 73 (68)-17, 88 (33)-17, 63-56, 39-77, 73-7); Pankaj Advani (Ind) bt Rodney Goggins (Ire) 7-4 (53-41, 77 (61)-44, 48-90, 114-8, 52-44, 32-81, 19-61 (54), 60-18, 22-69 (54), 89-1, 59 (58)-8).

Women, third place playoff: Vidya Pillai (Ind) bt Wendy Jans (Bel) 3-1 (68-54, 17-67, 67 (46)-38, 65-7).