Advani's title dreams dashed

Dubai: Pankaj Advani's dreams of winning the Asian Snooker Championship remains a dream - for now at least.

Aditya Mehta, also of India, ruined Advani's party in the 24th edition of the tournament here yesterday and waltzed his way into his maiden final in the continental championship.

The victory margin of 6-1 in favour of Mehta was certainly not what the fans had expected, for Advani was on song right through this championship, brushing past one opposition after another with remarkable ease.

What happened in the semifinal was totally inexplicable and even Advani was at a loss with his sudden drop in form.

Advani began the match in typical fashion, a 44 effort proving just enough to take the first frame. Then began the slide.

Feeling the pressure

Mehta went from strength to strength with every stroke as Advani felt the pressure building up for the first time. Normally, he would have bounced back and stemmed the tide. But yesterday, strangely, the ever-focused Advani kept hunting for that elusive burst of vigour that would have pulled him out of the hole.

Sensing victory, Mehta moved in for the kill and with some amazing shots at very crucial junctures, he took the wind out of Advani's sail.

This is one defeat that Advani needs to forget in a hurry and regroup his resources, for Mehta looks exactly the kind who is going to trouble him in the future. A healthy rivalry is building up between the two and that can only spell good things for the sport.

China's lone survivor Jin Long, the former Asian champion, meanwhile, exhibited some scrappy snooker, but tremendous character, to beat Malaysia's Moh Keen Ho, by six frames to three.

Ho, like Advani, began on a high, taking the first frame in quick time. In no time Jin found himself trailing in the match.

However, a few errors from Ho came in sooner than expected and Jin was back in the match.

Burst of three frames

A burst of three frames gave him a 3-1 lead and more or less put the game out of Ho's reach. He did pull back a couple of frames, but it was always going to be a losing battle as Jin was too seasoned a campaigner to let slide a decisive lead.

As we proceed towards the final day of this event, we look forward to an interesting contest between Jin and Mehta. The fans are in for a treat, as there are going to be breaks galore.

As for Advani, he will battle for the third place with Ho - a duel which he should win.

This is one defeat that Advani needs to forget in a hurry and regroup his resources, for Mehta looks exactly the kind who is going to trouble him in the future.