Brijesh Damani of Kolkata halted the winning streak of Kamal Chawla to advance to the semi-finals, in the Otters Club All India 9-Ball Pool Tournament on Friday.

Damani overcame Chawla of Railways 13-10 in an exciting race-to-13 racks quarter-finals to make a surprise entry into the last four on another dramatic day of upsets.

Damani set up a semi-final clash with Haryana No. 1 Divya Sharma who shocked formidable Dharmender Lily of Punjab 13-8 in another exciting quarter-final.

Damani, who made it to the knock out from Group D, trailed 2-4, before closing in at 4-5 to set the stage for an exciting contest ahead. But the experienced Chawla surged to an 8-4 lead before Damani came right back into the match to reduce the margin at 7-8 to keep his hopes alive.

An in-off in the 16th rack proved costly for Chawla, who otherwise had reason to be satisfied with his consistency. Damani seized the opportunity to put Chawla under pressure and never looked back.

Divya Sharma, who is also Haryana’s 8-ball state champion, always kept ahead with crucial leads to overcome Lily in a close contest.

Both cueists got off to shaky starts before Sharma snatched a 5-2 lead. They kept pace with each other until the half-way stage before Sharma capitalized on Lily’s blemishes for an 11-8 lead and held on.

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