Sarkhosh, Advani set up tantalising Asian snooker final

The ACBS Asian Snooker Championships stayed true to the knockout seedings as Iranian top seed Amir Sarkhosh, and Indian second seed and defending champion Pankaj Advani set up a thrilling final at Al Messila Resort yesterday.
Sarkhosh had not lost a single frame till he faced compatriot Siyavosh Mozayani in the quarter-final in the morning session yesterday. The former kept a clean sheet right till the third frame, going 3-0 up, before Mozayani took two frames off of his opponent to get back into the game.
However, Sarkhosh snuffed out any competition in the next two frames, blanking Mozayani in the final frame with an 80-point break to win 5-2, and set up a semifinal with Pakistani 21-year-old Haris Tahir.
Tahir and Sarkhosh traded frames, going neck-and-neck till 3-3. The latter then managed to gather himself to take the next two frames to book a final spot with a 5-3 win.
Advani, who has won 23 world titles across disciplines, first faced Iraq’s Alijalil Ali in his morning quarter-final. Ali had the biggest break coming into the game at 126, but couldn’t really get going this time round. The two were level at 2-2, before Advani went up 4-2, and eventually winning 5-3.
The 36-year-old Indian then faced an in-form Hong Kong cueist Cheung Ka Wai, the 22-year-old hitting the biggest break of the tournament so far at 136 in the third frame of their semi-final and using the momentum to go 2-2. The 22-year-old hit back with another century break, 113, to again restore parity at 3-3. However, Advani’s calm demeanour and nerves in crucial moments meant that the Indian won the next two frames to ensure a repeat of the 2017 IBSF World Snooker Championship final.