Merchant to play Mehta in All-India Snooker final

Chennai: In a fight for supremacy between two former Asian champions veteran Yasin Merchant came from 0-3 down position to beat Alok Kumar 5-4 and enter final of the Alumni Club All-India Invitational Snooker tournament.

The 42-year-old Mumbai cueist, Merchant now plays his state-mate and defending champion Aditya Mehta who thrashed Girish Rajasekar with a 5-0 verdict in the other semifinal, in a repeat-match of last year. Adopting safety play, Kumar made a clean sweep of the first three games but Merchant, after the initial hiccups, came back strongly and won the encounter.Earlier, the 24-year-old Mehta, playing at his favourite city, was in his elements throughout the match and did not face any difficulty in measuring his means for an easy win.Results (semifinals): Yasin Merchant (Mah) bt Alok Kumar (ONGC) 5-4 (25-95, 21-71, 36-52, 68-0, 68-3, 73-36, 88-3, 25-70, 61-49); Aditya Mehta (PSPB) bt Girish Rajasekar (Railways) 5-0 (71-34, 62-16, 64-22, 55-48, 52-34). PTI