Geet, Yasin to clash in semis in all India invitational snooker meet

Mumbai, Jun 29 (UNI) Geet Sethi and Asian runner-up Yasin Merchant fashioned hard-fought wins to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash, in the inaugural Rs 2.5 lakh prize money Nahar Group-MIG All India Invitation Snooker Tournament at the MIG Club, Bandra here today.

In exciting best-of-seven frames quarter-final encounters, Merchant overcame India No 1 Alok Kumar 4-2, while Sethi endured a strong challenge from Sarang Shroff before cruising to a 4-0 win in another quality contest that included a black ball finish in the second frame.

Merchant lived dangerously as he got off to a shaky start by clinching the opening frame on the black. He was further rattled in the next roundas Kumar fired a 59 and 76 to draw level.

Kumar restored parity for the second time with another significant break of 62 in the fourth frame as he threatened to take it away from an unimpressive Merchant. But the twice Asian champion miraculously held on, by capitalising on Kumar's errors to seal his win.

Shroff should have snatched the second frame, but he failed to put a difficult black that allowed Sethi to heave a sigh of relief.

Earlier, in the pre-quarter-final league, Brijesh Damani of Kolkata made a surprise entry into the quarter-finals with a 3-0 whitewash of Devendra Joshi in Group 'C', while Yasin Merchant demolished Karnataka's D Rajkumar by the same margin for his third straight win to complete the formalities in the group.

In Group 'D', Manan Chandra of PSPB overcame a determined Sarang Shroff of Mumbai to fashion a hard-fought 3-2 win. Both, however, qualified from the group.

RESULTS: Quarter-finals: Geet Sethi (Guj) bt Sarang Shroff 67-19, 81-79, 75-31, 82(53)-45; Yasin Merchant (Mumbai) bt Alok Kumar (PSPB) 52-46, 0-135(59,76), 77-34, 32-86(62), 74-45, 57-43.

Pre-quarter-final league: Group 'C': Brijesh Damani (Kolkata) bt Devendra Joshi (PSPB) 71-22, 88(82)-35, 57-49; Yasin Merchant (Mumbai) bt D. Rajkumar (Kar) 75-37, 69-3, 71-21.

Group 'D': Manan Chandra (PSPB) bt Sarang Shroff 61-19, 33-82, 56-8, 6-77(77), 70-8.

UNI