Doha,: India's Pankaj Advani and Ashok Shandilya continued their progress towards the gold medal in the Asian Games Billiards singles by entering the semi-finals after facile victories.

Advani, the only person in the world to have won both the world snooker and billiards titles other than Malta's Paul Mifsud, routed Thailand's C Praput 3-0 to make the last four.

The 21-year-old Bangalore-based Advani, who survived a scare in the round of 16 when he was taken the distance by Vietnamese cueist N Thanh Long before winning 3-2, overcame Thailand's Praput 100-29 100-2 100-11 to line up for a berth against Myanmar's Aung San Oo later today.

Shandilya, ousted Filipino rival Reynaldo Grandea 3-0 (101-61 103-25 101-24) to enter the semis where he faces former world professional champion Peter Gilchrist, an ex-British national who is representing Singapore now, for a place in the final.

The lankly Gilchrist downed Thailand's G Sujaritturakarn 3-1 in his quarter final encounter.