Pune: Defending champion Pankaj Advani and veteran Geet Sethi stormed into the semi-finals of the time format in the IBSF World Billiards Championship, after scoring contrasting wins, on Thursday.

Sethi defeated compatriot Ashok Shandilya by a huge margin of 1230 points, while Advani beat Rupesh Shah by 595 points, after trailing nearly by 170 points at the PYC Gymkhana Club.

Sethi will now take on Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist, who got the better of Dhruv Sitwala, and Advani will taken on 10-time world champion British cueist Mike Russell. Russell got the better of Myanmar's Kyaw Oo in his quarter final encounter.

Advani fired an unfinished break of 709 enroute his win over Rupesh, who was on a high after scoring breaks of 121, 75, 97 and 163 early on, as the two moved neck-and-neck before Advani produced his memorable break. (PTI)