Mehta enters final

Asian runner-up and top seed Aditya Mehta suffered a scare from feisty opponent Shahbaaz Khan before advancing to the final of the Manisha National Snooker Championships with a 5-4 victory at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana here today.

Defending champion Mehta, from Mumbai, led 4-0 and appeared on way to a comprehensive win before his fellow Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) cueist Shahbaaz made a great rally to draw level only to lose the deciding ninth frame in a rip-roaring semifinal contest.

Mehta defeated Shahbaaz, who had knocked out four-time winner Pankaj Advani in the pre-quarters yesterday, 71-43, 75 (68)-1, 105 (56,49)-7, 70-20, 30-69, 28-61, 33-71, 38-67, 86 (66)-1.

Mehta will clash with Kamal Chawla, also of PSPB, in the final tomorrow. The latter got the better of Brijesh Damani of West Bengal 5-2 (70-7, 19-64, 35-70, 67-32, 90-15, 103(67)-0, 70(51)-45) in the other semifinal.

India number one Mehta, of PSPB, had swamped Mumbai-based Railways rival Siddharth Parikh 5-0 (84-1, 67-34, 85 (82)-0, 80 (55)-7, 76 (40)-23) in a one-sided quarterfinal held in the morning.

Chawla had knocked out last year's runner-up Alok Kumar yesterday and survived a scare against Lucky Vatnani of Andhra Pradesh on his way to the semis.

Chawla won the pre-quarterfinal tie against Kumar, another PSPB cueist, who was runner-up in the Chennai Nationals, 4-3 and then was given a tough time by Vatnani before pulling up his socks for a 5-3 victory in the quarterfinal.

Results: Quarterfinals: Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) 5-0 (84-1, 67-34, 85 (82)-0, 80 (55)-7, 76 (40)-23); Shahbaaz Khan (PSPB) bt Himanshu Jain (AP) 5-3 (94-33, 67-33, 29-71, 62-52, 0-69, 22-58, 70-42, 72 (68)-16); Brijesh Damani (Ben) bt Manan Chandra (PSPB) 5-2 (90-8, 27,62, 41-84 (52), 77-22, 91-18, 59-49, 58-50); Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Lucky Vatnani (AP) 5-3 (42-44, 66-30, 13-68, 68 (63)-25, 66-22, 23-108 (78), 90(86)-0, 56-5).

Pre-quarterfinals: Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Sarang Shroff (Mah) 4-0 (71-1, 60 (50)-49, 70-50, 78 (51)-0); Siddharth Parikh (Rlys) bt Pulkit Thukral (Del) 4-1 (68-10, 54-66, 73-49, 71-40, 88-34); Himanshu Jain (AP) bt Shivam Arora (Bih) 4-3 (25-69, 55-26, 82-46, 23-74, 17-63, 63-59, 64-54); Shahbaaz Khan (PSPB) bt Pankaj Advani (PSPB) 4-2 (75-29, 48-60, 68 (61)-37, 29-104 (65), 70-23, 83-43.

Brijesh Damani (Ben) bt Vijay Nichani (TN) 4-1 (71-57, 88 (60)-10, 15-63, 76-15, 78-27); Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Sourav Kothari (PSPB) 4-2 (46-60, 139 (139)-0, 74 (42)-18, 64 (42)-33, 0-74 (74), 61-47); Lucky Vatnani (AP) bt IV Rajeev (AP) 4-1 (53-50, 65 (52)-6, 39-69, 74-18, 62-50); Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Alok Kumar (PSPB) 4-3 (66-41, 29-90 (89), 62-72, 64-62, 16-68, 56-27, 115 (98)-17).