Shandilya, Advani in Asian billiards final

National champion Ashok Shandilya and junior national champion Pankaj Advani will clash in the final of the Om Kotak Mahindra second Asian billiards championship.

In the semi-finals, in Bangalore on Saturday, Shandilya beat defending champion Geet Sethi 102-49, 0-102, 101-50, 100-35, 98-101, 11-101,100-21 while Advani got the better of Devendra Joshi 102-12, 9-101, 101-4, 84-100, 102-61, 102-74.

Earlier, in the quarter-finals on Saturday morning, Sethi had survived a scare before beating compatriot Alok Kumar 4-2 to enter the semi-finals.

Sethi, who won the title way back in 1986, had to produce his best in a ding-dong quarter-final battle to emerge victorious at 100-31, 101-26, 91-101, 101-0, 5-100, 100-96.

In the other last eight matches, Shandilya rallied brilliantly to oust Henry Boteju of Sri Lanka 81-100, 70-101, 100-15, 102-10, 101-43; Devendra Joshi, playing with great confidence, thrashed U Kyaw Oo of Myanmar 6-101, 102-82, 101-76, 101-24, 103-0 and 16-year-old Pankaj Advani continued his brilliant run, stopping Dhruv Sitwala 4-1 102-52, 102-99, 6-100, 100-34, 100-54.