Alok, Ashok crash out

It was a case of so near yet so far as the two veteran Indian cueists, Alok Kumar and Ashok Shandilya, fell just before the last hurdle in the World Billiards Championship (time format) here.

Curtains came down on Indian campaign with Alok and Shandilya losing their respective semifinal matches in the ‘Long up’ format on Tuesday night at the Northern Snooker Centre.

After winning the World Championship 150-up format last week, England’s David Causier overcame a weighty challenge from Shandilya 1250-710 in the first semifinal, while Peter Gilchrist knocked out Alok 1250-916 in the other last-four match.

Earlier, Point Format finalist Alok had defeated Nalin Patel of England 1000-490, while Shandilya got the better of compatriot Sourav Kothari 1000-989 in their respective quarterfinals.

From the traditional time format, this year’s championship saw the introduction of ‘Long up’ format with 400 points for the league stages, 500 for round of 32, 750 for last-16 and 1000 for the quarters.