Malta’s Joe Grech reached the semi-finals of the IBSF world championship yesterday, but then failed to reach the final as he was ebaten 5-0 by Devendra Joshi.

In the other semi-final, Australia’s Robbie Foldvari was leading Pankaj Advani 4-2 at the time of going to press.

Grech had reached the semi-final stages after beating Matthew Bolton in a cliffhanger 4-3.

Grech had taken a 2-0 lead but Bolton fought back to lead 3-2 before Grech levelled at 3-3. Bolton was leading at 145-43 in the final frame, therefore needing just five more points to qualify. But the local favourite hit a fine unfinished break of 151 to put paid to Bolton’s hopes and booking a place himself in the final four.

In the other quarter-finals, Robbie Foldvari beat P. Mumford 4-1, Geet Sethi lost to P. Advani 3-4 and Devendra Joshi beat A. Kumar 4-0.