Chennai, Dec 24 (PTI) Defending champion Manan Chandra and Vijay Nichani on Sunday entered the semifinals of the Masters Snooker during the National Championships here.

Chandra, who began the day with a 4-0 win over Anurag Bagri (Maharashtra) in the pre-quarterfinal, registered a 4-2 victory over Mahesh Jagdale (Maharashtra) in the quarterfinal.

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Nichani too had a great start, winning 4-1 against Subrat Das (Odhisa) in the pre-quarterfinal before beating IH Manudev (Karnataka) 4-2 in the next round.

In the other quarterfinal clashes, Rajat Khaneja (Haryana) registered a 4-2 triumph over Mahesh Aditya (Karnataka), while J Varun Kumar (Tamil Nadu) beat Dhruv Verma (Pune) 4-1.

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In the semifinal, Chandra will clash against local favourite Varun Kumar, while Nichani will take on Khaneja.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)