Sitwala, Parikh enter Australian Open billiards semifinals

Melbourne: It was double delight for Indian cueists at the Australian Open Billiards Championship today as Dhruv Sitwala and Siddhartha Parikh made the semifinals in the five-day event at the Yarraville Club here.

The left-handed Sitwala outplayed Todd Hayward 4-2 in the quarterfinals to set up a last-four clash with Mathew Bolton of Australia, while former Railways champion Parikh defeated Australia`s Steve Mifsud 4-2 to book a semifinal berth against English-born Singaporean cueist Peter Gilchrist. Earlier, other Indians in the fray, Devendra Joshi lost to Gilchrist in the best-of-seven quarterfinals while Dhvaj Haria was done in by Todd Hayward in the last-16 encounter. Joshi (154) though was on top of the list of highest breaks followed by Parikh (153). The semifinals will be a best-of-nine encounter, while the final will be a best-of-11 affair slated for tomorrow.