Rawath, Joshi make semis of snooker tourney

Chennai: Delhi`s Laxman Rawath and Devendra Joshi of PSPB today qualified for the semifinals of the Alumni Club Anna University Second All India Invitation Snooker Tournament after registering contrasting wins over their respective opponents.

Rawath, who turned 20 last week, defeated ONGC`s Sourav Kothari (4-3) 21-75 (54), 67(30)-58(30), 34-46, 89(59)-17, 67(44)-43, 100(51)-45, 52-12 in a hard-fought battle. Joshi beat local favourite and Tamil Nadu`s number one cueist Varun Kumar (4-3) 78-72(35), 34-53, 38-90(36), 67-65, 56-49, 24-69, 65-13 in a keenly-contested match. Kamal Chawla (RLYS), one of the most consistent players in the past three years, took only two visits in the first frame and one visit in the second to win against Siddharth Parikh (4-0) 91(54&37)-6, 83(83)-0, 76(59)-43, 66-39. Alok Kumar (PSPB) went about his match against Vijay Nichani (TN) in his usual way of mixing up small breaks with unbelievable safety, unnerving his opponent. Kumar overwhelmed Nichani (4-0) 87(45)-33, 74(39)-53, 98(36)-9, 83-59 in an hour and 20 minutes contest. PTI