June 17, 2007	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 01, 1428

KARACHI, June 16: The final of the 23rd Asian Snooker Championship will be an India-Thailand affair after Yasin Merchant and Supoj Saenia recorded contrasting semi-final victories on the penultimate day on Saturday.

Two-time former champion Yasin came from 2-3 down to turn the tables on Pakistan’s lone hope Khurram Agha 6-4 to remain in contention of the title for an overall third time. The Indian was home 72-6, 76-5, 0-95, 15-53, 34-52, 71-38, 55-2, 66-60, 48-57, 74-38.

Supoj Saenia, on the other hand, won in contrasting style when he ended the winning streak of 2005 Asian champion, Jin Long of China 6-1.(50-34, 88-20, 55-63, 72-47, 31-16, 63-5, 113-7).

The best-of-13 frames final will be played on Sunday at 3.00pm. This will be preceded by the third position playoff between the losing semi-finalists.

According to prize money break-up, the winner will receive $2500 while runner up will earn $1200. The third positioned cueist will get $600 with $300 going to the fourth placed player.

In addition, the performer of highest break will pocket $100.Continuing from where he had left off on Friday, Yasin opened the match on a winning note by taking lead in winning the first two frames 72-6, 76-5 which contains solid breaks of 60 and 48.

Khurram, a former Pakistan No 1, then delighted the spectators when he slammed a splendid break of 74 in his 95-0 win to reduce the deficit. He drew level at 2-2 taking the next frame 53-15 which carried a break of 31.

Playing his fourth Asian event, Khurram surged 3-2 up, after grabbing the fifth frame at 52-34 despite a break of 31 by his opponent.

Yasin, 40, who is a regular visitor to the city, recovered from the loss by taking the sixth, seventh and eighth frames in a row 71-38, 55-2, 66-60 to lead 5-3. He conceded the ninth frame 48-57 only to wrap up the match by winning the 10th at 74-38.

“It was a tough match and I entered with a 50-50 chance,” Yasin said after the triumph.

Yasin who has many glories under his belt said he will enter the final without taking any pressure.

The second encounter turned out to be a one-sided affair with Supoj Saenia keeping his cool against emotional Jin Long.

Jin’s temperament was evident from the fact that he surrendered the fifth frame when he missed a shot with seven red balls on the table.

His act was condemned by all and sundry including the ACBS chief.

Saturday’s results:

Semi-finals: Yasin Merchant (India) bt Khurram Agha (Pakistan) 6-4 (72-6, 76-5, 0-95, 15-53, 34-52, 71-38, 55-2, 66-60, 48-57, 74-38). Supoj Saenia (Thailand) bt Jin Long (China) 6-1 (50-34, 88-20, 55-63, 72-47, 31-16, 63-5, 113-7).

Sunday’s fixtures:

Final: Yasin Merchant v Supoj Saenia at 3.00pm

Playoff for 3rd position: Khurram Agha (Pakistan) v Jin Long (China) at 11.00am.