By IANS
New Delhi : National three-cushion champion Dhaminder Lilly led an onslaught of Punjab cueists as three of them made it to semi-finals of the National One-Cushion Carombole Championship here Monday.
Second seed Manan Chandra, the lone cueist to cross the 100-point mark, Sumit Talwar and Alok Kumar were the others who made it to the semi-finals.
Talwar will play Lilly and Alok will meet Chandra in the semi-finals.
Delhi's national pool champion Chandra raised the standard of his game in his 107-46 win against Ajay Rehani. He showed how the game could be played at pace despite its sluggish nature.
Chandra crossed 70 on his 40th visit and reached the century mark in his 58th visit as he asserted control over the proceedings. He had four breaks of five and four canons and two of six as the Delhi cueist stamped his authority.
Lilly came out unscathed in a tantalisingly close quarterfinal tie against Kamal Chawla.
Lilly, who played his pre-quarterfinal match in the morning, was scrappy at the start. Luck was not with Chawla, who had shown consistent form throughout the tournament, as he got some difficult positions and missed canons. The match went to the wire before Lilly triumphed 69-65.
Seasoned Alok, however, gave no leeway to Sandeep Gulati, winning 63-30.
Punjab's Talwar held his nerves towards the end to win 59-52 against Delhi's Anuj Uppal to set up the semi-final clash against Lilly.
The title winner here will represent India at the carombole event in the 2nd Asian Indoor Games in Macau, China, from Oct 27 to Nov 3.