Gilchrist v Russell in the final

Semi Final 2:A first session deficit of 650 points, costs the title for Pankaj. Pankaj did not start well in the first session as he managed only one break of 231 in the 8th visit whereas Mike, learning from his defeat last year in the professional championship, smashed 334 and 186 in the 4th and 5th visits followed with 117 and 125 in the 16th and 18th to raise the bar by 650 points against Pankaj at the interval.

As it was certain that Pankaj will surely bounce back, he did so accumulating two figure breaks in the start of second session and a heavy one in the 26th visit (255) to narrow the lead. Mike countered this with 308 in the next visit which Pankaj again chased with his 185. Pankaj was on the job and gradually etched away at Mike’s lead, crossing the 300 break mark with 15 minutes left in the match. Already out of position, Pankaj managed to explore everything as he was aware that leaving the table will cost him defeat and kept scoring on every shot, but a controversial decision for a missed cannon on red made him sit aside and brought Mike to the table. The cannon was so thin, it’s hard to say whether yellow brushed the red or not. At that stage, Pankaj was trailing by 170 odd points, but in the last moments Mike scored 49 and 23 to maintain the lead. Pankaj was 81 unfinished when the clock ran out, leaving him 117 short of his fourth consecutive IBSF timed championship final.