Merchant to take on Rupesh Shah; Kothari to fight Damani in semis

Pune, May 8 (UNI) Yasin Merchant will clash with Rupesh Shah, while Sourav Kothari will lock horns with Brijesh Damani in the semifinals of the 2nd Poona Club Limited (PCL) Manisha Open&Invitational Snooker Championship 2007, organized by the Poona Club.

In the quarter finals played today, Asian Bronze Medalist Yasin Merchant, who looks favourite for the title, with his immaculate performance so far, eliminated former Asian Snooker Champion Alok Kumar 103(59)-06, 62-36, 75(63)-21, 79(64)-0.

While the last entrant into the last eight stage Asian Silver Medalist Rupesh Shah, came from a frame down to scrape past Aditya Mehta 24-108(46), 68(37)-16, 69-47, 89-31, 63-42, in perhaps the best match of the day.

Upcoming Kolkata player Brijesh Damani put an end to a creditable progress of Central Railways Neeraj Kumar 43-88, 74-27, 74-35, 51-23, 72-13 to make the last four stage. He will now take on another Kolkata youngster and former junior national champion Sourav Kothari, who defeated current junior national champion Rusabh Pandya 70-30, 78-32, 68-58, 42-66, 59-17.

The semifinals will be played on best of ten frames in the morning session to be followed by the finals at 1600 hrs.

Following are the results: Quarter Finals: (brackets denotes breaks) Rupesh Shah bt Aditya Mehta24-108(46), 68(37)-16, 69-47, 89-31, 63-42, Sourav Kothari bt Rushabh Pandya 70-30, 78-32, 68-58, 42-66, 59-17, Brijesh Damani bt Neeraj Kumar 43-88, 74-27, 74-35, 51-23, 72-13, Yasin Merchant bt Alok Kumar 103(59)-06, 62-36, 75(63)-21, 79(64)-0.

UNI