Alok Kumar shocks Geet Sethi

Alok Kumar of Punjab stunned World champion Geet Sethi of Gujarat to enter the final of the Om Kotak Mahindra - 68th Senior National Billiards championship, at the Gujarat Sports Club, in Ahmedabad, on Thursday.

Alok won 1060-1020, to set up a clash with Railways' Ashok Shandilya, who got the better of defending champion Devendra Joshi of Maharashtra 1348 - 1034 in the other semi-final.

Alok started slowly and his first notable break was an 88 on his third visit to the table, to which Sethi replied with a 141 on his fourth visit. However, a brilliant 145 on his 12th visit put Alok high in the saddle. He then kept Sethi at bay by regularly making small breaks of 56, 79, 84, 54 and 50.

Alok was leading by 400 points at one stage, but suddenly the World champion notched up fantastic double century break of 226 to reduce the margin.

With time running out, Sethi attempted a strong fightback with a brilliant break of 198 on 42nd visit, but it was too late as Alok won the match by a slender margin of 40 points.

Earlier, twice Asian gold medallist Ashok Shandilya proved too strong for defending champion Devendra Joshi in the first semi-final.

The match between the two stalwarts was a keen affair, with both players playing cautiously. Shandilya made the first attempt towards a big break on his ninth visit and scored 76 points, but Joshi replied with a brilliant century break of 108 on his 12th.

On his 16th visit, Shandilya looked good for a century break but could only manage a 72. Then, on his 26th visit, Joshi rattled up a huge break of 181 to level the score. But the gusty man from Railways came up with a strong reply with a break of 191 to take a lead of almost 200 points.

Shandilya continued with his good potting and on his 37th visit made a break of 120 to take command of the game. Joshi made a desperate attempt to come back into the game when he strung up a 134 on his 45th visit. But Shandilya notched up breaks of 110 and 117 to seal his place in the final.