Sethi and Shandiliya lose their way in semis

Thursday was a very bad day for India in billiards as India lost to Myanmar in doubles event.

India's hopes of a gold medal in the men's billiards doubles event were shattered when the experienced campaigners Geet Sethi and Ashok Shandilya went down to Myammar 2-3 in the semi-finals at the Al Sadd complex in Doha on Thursday.

HT Image

The Indian pair started off well by clinching the first and third frames but could not sustain the tempo in the crucial stages against the Myammar duo of Oo San Aung and Oo Kyaw who scripted a hard-fought 84-100, 100-0, 32-100, 100-15, 100-51 victory to romp into the final.

The seven-time world champion Sethi and Shandilya will now battle for bronze against Pakistan who lost to Thailand 1-3 in the other semi-final.

The Indians had themselves to blame for the debacle as they committed some costly blunders in the fourth and fifth frames to allow their opponents to walk away with the honours.

"We could have played better. We were outplayed by the Myammar team", Sethi said after the heart-breaking loss.

Sethi said the Indians had performed reasonably well in the team event but not winning the gold medal will rankle him and his partner.

"For the team, I think the whole tournament we're done alright. But of course, its really disappointing that we didn't make the finals because we came here as favourites. So we didn't achieve what we expected," the veteran cueist said.

"We've still got the bronze medal match and we are looking forward to it", he added.

There was more disappointment for India, as Yasin Merchant was also knocked out of the men's snooker singles event in the pre-quarter finals.

Merchant played well below par to go down 0-4 against Saudi Arabia's Nezar Asseri who carved out an emphatic 77-55, 74-52, 67-47, 52-17 scoreline.