Cali, Columbia: India's numero uno snooker player Aditya Mehta remained on course to win a gold medal in the ongoing World Games after securing a hard-fought victory against pre-tournament favourite Perry Raymond in the quarter-finals of the quadrennial event at Cali, Columbia.
Mehta staved off a stiff challenge from the world No. 19 Perry before beating him 3-2 and booked a semi-final berth against Thailand's Dechawat Poomjaeng, who beat another Indian and eight-time world champion Pankaj Advani 3-1.
Despite registering a comfortable 3-0 win over Luis Lemus of Guatemala in his first-round match, Mehta struggled against the more experienced Perry, who won his first and only ranking tournament at the Yixing Open earlier this year.
Perry took the lead in the tie, winning the first frame quite comfortably before Mehta came back strongly to secure the second frame and level the issue.
The Englishman again surged ahead by winning the third frame and took a commanding lead in the fourth before Mehta put on display amazing potting skills on the green baize to clinch it and take the game into the decider.
The Mumbai-based cueist dominated the fifth and final frame, constructing a break of 50 to seal the issue in his favour and move into the semi-finals.
Currently ranked 74th in the world, Mehta had won silver and bronze medals at the 2010 Asian Games.
However, there was disappointment in store for India after Advani failed to live up to his billing and lost to Poomjaeng in the quarters.
The other semi-final will see China's Liang Wenbo take on Brazil's Igor Figueiredo.
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