Alok Kumar knocks out Pankaj Advani 5-2 in the quarter-finals: 78th National Snooker Championship
Alok Kumar has reached the semi-finals as he outplayed the defending champion Pankaj Advani by a frame score of 5-2 in a best-of-nine quarter-final match of the 78th National Snooker Championship on Monday in Chennai, India.
It was an old-fashioned game overall as there were no reasonable breaks made by either player but still credit goes to Kumar who he held his nerves to shrug off the experienced Advani. Advani, who was a favourite for the match, could not perform at all.
However, the overall score-line between both players was 59-27, 47-58, 63-31, 76-63, 44-73, 67-66, 66-58.
Both players traded the first two frames before Kumar clinched the third and fourth frames in a row to go in front at 3-1. Advani clawed back by winning the fifth to come within one frame at 3-2 but there was no use as he lost the sixth and seventh straight.
The match took just over 3 hours to finish and both players were not happy with the play they played.
Kumar, who came far superior to his opponent in the safety department, told the media he and Pankaj both were struggling all the way during the match but somehow he was lucky enough to get more chances.
While speaking on his inclusion, he said, “I was mediocre. I didn’t play well nor did Pankaj. In fact, I am surprised that I have reached the semi-finals. Just yesterday (Sunday), Pankaj and I were discussing the art of winning today, I was struggling all
the time, but just hung in there and took my chances.”
Advani also shared his feelings after the match and remarked, “I was just not in the match today and played poor snooker, may be 30 per cent of what I could. It was one of those matches when nothing went right.”
Meanwhile, other players who have cruised into the semi-finals are Aditya Mehta, Neeraj Kumar and IM Manudev.
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