Chapman, Sethi set for an encore

“I’m happy to have made the final, especially since I haven’t been playing well” said a relieved Chapman after the encounter.

After being asked to start with yellow, Bhaskar started well. A break of 95 on his third visit followed by a century break of 170 put him marginally ahead at the end of the first hour of the three hour final.

Thoughconsistent play saw Chapman move in front, Bhaskar was always on his trail. With half-hour’s play left, the difference was down to just 30. It was at this point that Chapman actually took off.

“I was very much pleased with my play in the last 30 minutes. But I’m still not firing all cylinders which is a while playing Sethi,” revealed Chapman. A break of 116 on the 35th visit and 78 on the next tilted the match in the Briton’s favour. Bhaskar did have his chances in the last few minutes but the experience and nerves of the World No 3 finally decided the match.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s game with Sethi,” said Chapman of his summit clash. “Sethi beat me in the final last year, that is a worry. Hope he doesn’t repeat it,” smiled Chapman.

Earlier in the first semi-final, Sethi trounced Ashok Shandilya with an easy 1222-760 win.

Winning the toss, Shandilya started with the yellow but was never in the game, at least for the first half as Sethi raced past him. A century break of 181 as early ashis third visit gave an indication of things to come. While Sethi piled his tally, Shandilya failed to match. So much so that with an hour’s play Sethi was already 600 points ahead of Shandilya.

The high-profile Shandilya, known mainly for his snooker exploits, did manage breaks of 148 and 127 but these came rather late as Sethi sailed through.

GENTLEMAN CHAPMAN: In a interesting incident during the match, Chapman stopped his opponent from committing a foul as Bhaskar was about to take a shot with the white ball instead of the yellow. This gesture of true sportsmanship, even though the Indian was running neck-to-neck with him on the scoreboard, received a round of applause from the spectators for the 24-year old from Peterborough and rightly so.

SNOOKER FINAL: Shandilya, however, made up for his billiards loss beating Rafad Habib 5-2 to enter the snooker final. Habib started well, firing a break of 73 to clinch the first frame but never looked in a commanding position. He had givenShandilya a tough time in their league match and the latter looked prepared for some more challenge. But both were guilty of missing many shots. “It was a pressure game,” accepted Shandilya after the hard earned victory.

Late last evening, Rafad Habib pipped Amit Saboo, 4-3, in a thrilling snooker quarter-final to set up the semi-final fight with Shandilya.Everything seems to go right for Merchant as he powred his way into the snooker final with a 5-2 win over Mohd S Joker of UAE. In fact, Merchant had coached Joker when the former was the National snooker coach of Dubai.

RESULTS (semi-finals)
Billiards: Geet Sethi bt Ashok Shandilya 1222-760; Roxton Chapman bt Balkrishna Bhaskar 858-670.
Snooker: Ashok Shandilya bt Rafad Habib 5-3 (32-82, 69-14, 25-14, 74-32, 51-45, 69-42, 39-73, 55-16); Yasin Merchant bt Mohd S Joker 5-2 (75-36, 71-19, 58-17, 67-72, 19-55, 72-12, 66-43).