Kothari, Rawat in final of All India Snooker

Mumbai, Aug 10 (IANS) Delhi boy Laxman Rawat and Sourav Kothari of ONGC registered convincing semi-final wins to set up a title clash in the Shyam Shroff Memorial All India Open Invitation Snooker Tournament at the Khar Gymkhana Friday.

Kothari overcame 2009 champion Kamal Chawla of Bhopal 5-3 to avenge his loss in a final held recently in Chennai, while Rawat halted Andy Lee of Hong Kong 5-2 to enter his maiden major championship round.

Kothari's effort included a break of 85 in the second frame as he stormed into his fourth championship round in five tournaments, after beating double Asian champion Yasin Merchant in the Bombay Gymkhana 'Strokes' Invitational final and losing to India No.1 Aditya Mehta in Kolkata recently.

Rawat fired a break of 70 in the opening frame and added a 62 in the fourth to dominate the second semifinal against Hong Kong Open champion Lee.

"Laxman was very good. He potted well and was consistent," said Lee.

"I missed some easy shots. I have played about 60 frames in the last eight days which is quite draining. But that's no excuse for my loss. Laxman was a deserving winner."

Semifinal results: Sourav Kothari (ONGC) bt Kamal Chawla (MP) 23-83(82), 86(85)-19, 69-42, 65-44, 33-45, 50-66, 70-38, 63-28; Laxman Rawat (Delhi) bt Andy Lee (Hong Kong) 76(70)-11, 27-69(44), 62-36, 84(62)-8, 26-68, 50-32, 48-8.