India start World Cup campaign with two win but lose Asian Team Snooker Championship Final to Pakistan
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The Indian snooker team lost 2-3 against Pakistan in the final of the Asian Team Snooker Championship in Doha, Qatar on Friday. The team did, however, made a great start to their campaign at the World Cup, at the same venue, with victories over South Africa and Thailand on Saturday.
The Indian snooker players are having contrasting last two days in Doha. India lost its first two matches of the final against Pakistan of the continental event as Pankaj Advani lost 79-1 against Babar Masih while Zulfiqar Qadir thrashed Laxman Rawat 71-1. Although the Pakistani pair was defeated by the two Indians in the next match by 58-18 and Advani also managed to beat Qadir by 67-38, a win by Masih over Rawat in the last one helped Pakistan clinch the trophy.
Earlier in the semi-finals of the Asian Championship, India had beaten Myanmar while Pakistan had got the better of Thailand with an identical score of 3-2.
However, in the IBSF Snooker World Cup at the same venue, India made a great start to their campaign by beating South Africa and Thailand in the first two games. After beating South Africa 3-0, India defeated a strong Thailand 3-1 to register two back-to-back wins at the global event.
Advani and Manan Chandra had won the title for India in the previous edition of the World Cup while Rawat is paired with Advani in this yearās tournament.
