Merchant, Mehta in final of Alumni Club snooker

CHENNAI - In a battle of veterans and two former Asian champions, Yasin Merchant recovered brilliantly to turn back a 0-3 deficit for a 5-4 win against Alok Kumar to enter the final of the Alumni Club All-India invitational snooker tournament here Saturday.

The 42-year old Merchant takes on fellow-Mumbaikar Aditya Mehta, who blanked Girish Rajasekar 5-0 in the other semi-final. The last time the two met in a final here was in July when Mehta won 6-2.

It was Alok all the way in the opening three frames that he took comfortably with typical safety play while Merchant struggled to get his bearings.

With Alok jumping to a 3-0 lead, it looked curtains for Merchant, but the Mumbai-based businessman came up with four stunning breaks of 62, 56, 60 and 73 in consecutive frames to snatch a 4-3 advantage.

It was a near-vintage Merchant as he got into a fine rhythm and the breaks flowed fluently each time Alok left him on.

However, in the eighth frame, it was Alok who capitalized on an early opening to post a break of 51 to level at 4-4.

Both were understandably cautious at the start of the decider before Alok seized an opening to construct a break of 45 before missing a centre-pocket pink. That eventually proved to be decisive as Merchant clawed his way back into the contest that ended when he potted the colours to pink in different visits.

Earlier, the 24-year old Mehta for whom Chennai is proving to be a happy hunting ground, having won both the previous prize-money tournaments here, was in total control from the start to wrap up the match in quick time.

Rajasekar appeared rather subdued and facing an opponent at the top of his game, could offer little by way of challenge as Mehta won in a canter.

The results (semi-finals):

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).