Merchant rallies to enter final

Mumbai: Two-time Asian champion Yasin Merchant staged a great escape in the semifinal of the Matunga

Gymkhana-BSAM-Pidilite 6-Red All India Open Snooker Championship today to set up a title clash with Kamal Chawla. The bespectacled cue ace recovered from 1-2 and 3-4 deficits to overcome Delhi-based Sandeep Gulati of Railways 5-4 in a bitterly fought semifinal. Merchant won 43-9, 4-28, 2-37, 45-6, 38-13, 4-57, 7-33, 51-0, 34-28. In the other semifinal, Chawla, having warmed up with fine victories over Rovin D`Souza, Dhruv Sitwala and Rafath Habib in earlier rounds, sailed past R Girish 5-1. In the all-Railways semifinal tie, Bhopal-based Chawla prevailed 20-34, 40-9, 38-9, 44-26, 40-10, 48-41 over his Mumbai-based rival. Merchant lived dangerously after getting off to a good start against Gulati. Down 3-4, he fired a break of 45 to clinch the eighth and force the decider. He was trailing by 20 points and staring at defeat in the ninth and final frame when Gulati`s luck ran out. Merchant pounced on the opportunity and took the frame and match. Quarterfinal Results: Yasin Merchant bt Manish Jain (Kolkata) 4-1; R Girish (Rlys) bt Mahadeo Bhogle 5-2; Sandeep Gulati (Rlys) bt Rishabh Pandya 5-3; Kamal Chawla (Rlys) bt Rafath Habib (Rlys) 5-3. Bureau Report