Asian Games gold medallist Yasin Merchant joined national champion Pankaj Advani [ Images ] as qualifiers for the World snooker championship after scoring a hard-fought 5-3 victory over Alok Kumar in the semi-finals of the selection tournament in Delhi [ Images ] on Thursday.

The duo will represent India [ Images ] in the World championship, to be played in China in October. Advani had yesterday defeated Manan Chandra 5-2 to qualify for the flag-ship event.

After racing to a 4-1 lead, Merchant looked all set for an easy win but the businessman from Punjab [ Images ] had a different plan as he came back in contention, winning the next two frames.

"Alok is a very dangerous player. He keeps coming at you. While playing against him it is not only essential to control your game but also your nerves," a relieved Merchant said after the match.

"Even in the selection tournament for the Asian snooker championship in Hyderabad early this year I was leading with the same score against him (Alok) and he came back strongly. That time also I was lucky to maintain my composure and win the match," he said.

Merchant, did not start well as he lost the first frame to Kumar 48-64. Known to be an aggressive cuiest, the two-time Asian snooker champion then prefered to play a safe game, winning the next two frames, 67-32, 71-55.

With a 2-1 cushion on his side, Merchant then started to go for his shots and recorded breaks of 66 and 44 in the fourth and fifth frames respectively to take a 4-1 lead.

It looked like all was lost for Kumar, but a easy miss on the brown ball by Merchant gave the Punjab player a chance to bounce back, which he grabbed with both hands to come up with a break of 87 to take the frame, 93-1.

A break of 36 in the very first visit in the seventh frame was enough for Kumar to take the frame, 65-37, as his opponent started to feel the pressure. But Kumar, the former national champion, leading 30-20 in the eighth frame, made an expensive error on a red ball and Merchant ensured that the tie did not go into the decider.

Alok now faces the other losing semi-finalist, Manan Chandra in the third place play-off.