Sandeep Gulati who shocked Ashok Shandilya on Monday added the scalp of Sourav Kothari on Tuesday to have the best snooker performance of his career. Labeled as a 9-ball pool specialist being once a National finalist Gulati now meets Shahbaaz Khan in the last eight of the Rs.3.7 Lakh CCI Platinum Jubilee event.

Gulati won 4-1. "I made my points by giving him snookers," said a delighted Gulati, who was runner-up to Manan Chandra in the Mumbai 9-ball Pool Nationals a few years ago. The best he has reached in snooker is the round of 32. Kothari failed to capitalize on two good breaks of 68 and 43 in the second frame, as Gulati replied with a break of 52 in the third before booking his place in the quarter-finals.

CCI's own Nikhil Ootam had a good crowd of members cheering him in his pre-quarter-final against new India No 1 Manan Chandra. And he rose to the occasion winning two frames in a row after being three down. He had his moments in the sixth frame but Manan produced his best to win 4-2. He takes on two-time Asian champ Yasin Merchant who got past Devendra Joshi 4-1. The CCI has not been the happiest hunting ground for Yasin but he is hoping against hope.

The other last eight pairings are Pankaj Advani v/s Rupesh Shah and Alok Kumar v/s Kamal Chawla. Alok came from 2-3 down to edge out R. Girish of Railways. Girish had ousted Rafat Habib 4-2.

Advani had a break of 84 while blanking Manav Panchal, while Rupesh was taken to the decider by fellow Ahmedabadi Geet Sethi who was down 0-3. Sethi, who had a brilliant break of 73 in the fifth frame, had any number of chances to win but his cue-ball control appeared to desert him and he was resigned to giving snookers where again he was not spot on. Chawla stopped Karnataka lad MS Arun.

Shah set the ball rolling when he shunted out Sethi with a 84-48, 85-16, 90-35, 43-63, 0-73(73), 55-65, 57-11 win in a marathon four-hour battle. Shah surged to a 3-0 lead and looked set for a surprise rout against the formidable Sethi who is known for exceptional safety play. But Sethi emphasized why he was the World individual billiards champion on eight occasions as he came back into the match to draw level at 3-3, that included a brilliant break of 73 in the fifth frame.

Under pressure to survive, Sethi managed to keep ahead 39-29 early in the crucial sixth frame. But Shah thrived on small but significant breaks as he snatched the lead at 49-47, until Sethi came up with a late burst to force the decider.

"Playing against Geet is not easy. He is an exceptional safety player. But I managed to survive," said Shah, who stayed ahead at 37-5 and 49-6 before clinching the seventh frame and the match.

Twice in arrears, six time national champion Alok Kumar was staring at defeat with a 2-3 deficit before rallying to a thrilling 4-3 win over Mumbai-based R. Girish of Railways.

Trailing 1-2, Kumar drew level before Girish snatched the lead again. But a significant break of 66 in the sixth frame brought Kumar back into the match as he forced the decider in the best-of-seven frame contest. Kumar built on small but significant breaks in the final frame to keep ahead before taking the match away.

I was almost gone, admitted Alok Kumar. Girish is a good potter but he committed errors at crucial moments. The decider could have been anybody, but the small breaks helped me.