Shivam Arora in semis; Kothari goes down

Chengdu (China), Aug 12 (PTI) Shivam Arora, India's leading exponent of heyball, powered into the semifinals of the World Games here on Tuesday.

Heyball combines elements of both snooker and pool, and the unique cue sport follows the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) rules.

Arora edged out Hong Kong China's Yip Kin Ling in a thriller (5-4) to set up a semifinal meeting with Zhang Taiyi, who defeated fellow Chinese cueist Liu Xin 5-3 in another quarterfinal.

In a match of fluctuating fortunes, Arora, ranked No. 5 in the world, held his nerve in the decider to keep his medal hopes alive.

The Indian ace, a silver medallist at the inaugural Commonwealth Billiards Championships last month, reduced his rival to a mere spectator in the final rack.

After Kin Ling's dry break shot, Arora went about potting in his inimitable style. The 38-year-old made it a start-to-finish affair with fine cue ball control and positioning.

In the morning session, national champion Sourav Kothari bowed out in the quarterfinals of the snooker event.

The 40-year-old failed to take the chances that came his way and went down 0-2 to China's Xiao Guodong.

Results (Quarterfinals): Heyball mixed: Shivam Arora (Ind) beat Yip Kin Ling (HKC) 5-4; Zhang Taiyi (Chn) beat Liu Xin (Chn) 5-3; Tang Chunxiao (Chn) beat Shi Tianqi (Chn) 5-1; Jason Theron (RSA) beat Alejandro Carvajal (Chi) 5-2.

Men: Snooker: Xiao Guodong (Chn) beat Sourav Kothari (Ind) 2-0 (67-2, 87 (69) -1). PTI UNG AH AH