Advani in World Billiards semis
Leeds: Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani held his nerves to edge past David Causier of England in the semi-final of the World Billiards Championship time format by a mere five points, here on Wednesday. Eyeing another grand double (points and time format in the same year) after clinching the 150-up short format title last week, Advani led Causier by a comfortable 400 points margin at one stage only to pip last year’s runner-up 1180-1175. With Advani making it to the final it could have been an all-Bangalore title clash, but Balachandra Bhaskar went down to another Englishman, Robert Hall 978-824. It was Advani who ran away with the lead in the first half of the four-hour semi-final with breaks of 304, 103 and 114. (PTI)
Durand Cup: Sporting de Goa beat United SC, enter semis
Margao: Boima Karpeh struck twice to guide Sporting Clube de Goa to a close 3-2 win over United SC in the opening Pool B quarter-final league match of the 127th Durand Cup, here on Wednesday. Sporting Clube de Goa, who led 2-1 at half time, scored through Karpeh (3rd, 7th minutes) and Anthony Wolf (60th) at the Raia ground. The visitors, who put up improved performance in the second half, scored their goals in through Sankar Oraon (32nd) and Sujay Oraon (70th). Sporting Clube de Goa, who have not performed well in the ongoing pro-league, looked a better side today as they controlled the proceeding from the start. The home team moved the ball around well with short passes and scored two early goals before the visitors could settle down. (PTI)