Kathmandu, March 14: Saroj Mulmi and Tenzing Ngodup entered the semifinals of the All Nepal Carlsberg Open Snooker Championship, following their respective win over Mohan Rai and Sanjay Mulmi in the quarterfinals played at Covered Hall here Tuesday.
Saroj Mulmi from Black Stallion, dropped the opening frame at 45-67 to Annapurna Club’s Rai. But he quickly staged his comeback with a break of 23 points in the second frame to level at 1-1, winning on 67-21.
As Rai, who earned a walkover from Durlav Karki in the previous round struggled to concentrate, Mulmi also took the next three at 53-41, 109-19 and 107-7 for a commanding 4-1 lead. But he, trying to finish off the game quickly, missed a straight forward red to allow Rai to get into the game who cashed in the opportunity to narrow the difference to one frame at 4-3, taking sixth and seventh by 57-43 and 59-29. Mulmi, however got back to his rhythm in time to wrap up the match by winning the eighth frame at 90-27.
In the other quarterfinal, Tenzing, Ngodup of Hong Kong Snooker was in dominant form as he humbled Sanjay Mulmi of Bosss Snooker. Ngodup, with the aid of an initial break of 29 points went 1-0 up, taking the opening frame at 101-31. His perfect cue control and positioning gave indication that it would be a straight forward passage to the semifinals.
But after having won next three frames at 67-16, 67-14, 81-48, he played couple of lose shots in the fifth and Mulmi cleared up the table to win it by 68-28. Mulmi however, failed to match the potting skill of the much formidable opponent in the sixth while Ngodup brimmed with confidence pocketed 21 points in succession to win at 98-7 for a comfortable 5-1 win. He will meet Saroj Mulmi in semifinal on Thursday.