Alok Kumar and Rupesh Shah to clash in National snooker final

Bangalore, Feb 1 (UNI) The semifinal clashes that proved to be a minefield for fancied players as Alok Kumar of PSPB stunned reigning World Champion Pankaj Advani 5-3 to storm into the final of the Senior National Snooker Championship played in KSBA hall here today.

Alok will clash with Rupesh Shah of Gujarat in the final tomorrow.

Upset marked the other semifinal too with Rupesh rallied back brilliantly to beat twice Asian Champion Yasin Merchant of Maharashtra 5-4 in the afternoon.

The Punjabi star Alok shot into a 2-0 lead winning the first two frames with clinching breakes at 52 and 62. Pankaj, undeterred by the early reverse, bounced back levelling the scores 2-2 by winning the next two. His table clearing break of 115 in the third was outstanding and left Alok rooted to his chair.

With pressure building up on both the players, Pankaj failed to maintain tempo and conceded next two frames. He made a second comeback winning the seventh frame to reduce the margin to 3-4 but Alok, who reserved his best for the last blanked his fancied young rival in the eighth game 82-0. This included a 76 point break that sealed the fate of the 21-year-old champion.

''Fifth frame was a crucial one, If I had won that frame it would have given boost for me, but Alok did not give me any chance to play attacking game'', Pankaj said.

''I am very happy, this itself is an achievement, Pankaj is the World Champion and very tough guy to beat'', said beaming Alok who made a comeback after having won National title in 2005.

Result: (Semifinal): Alok Kumar (PSPB) bt pankaj Advani (PSPB) 5-3 (73 (B-52)-49, 84-(B-62)-51, 10-120 (B 115), 10-60, 79.51, 74-52, 55-57, 82-00 (B-76) (Eds: pick up from earlier series) UNI