Haria, Paras bow out of IBSF World Snooker Championships

Despite the defeats, both Haria and Gupta, along with two other Indians -- Malkeet Singh and Hussian Khan -- were given first-round byes in the second of the two-event first stage

Hyderabad: India’s Dhvaj Haria and Paras Gupta, who were one win away from making the final stage, suffered narrow defeats in the first stage of the IBSF World Snooker Championships in Doha (Qatar) late on Tuesday evening.

Impressive in his two previous wins, Haria called the shots for the better part of the last-16 meeting with Thor Chuan Leong. However, the 32-year-old frittered away a 3-1 advantage and lost 3-4 to the Malaysian in a ding-dong battle.

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At the adjacent table, Gupta, the Asian 6-red runner-up, went down fighting 2-4 to Pakistan’s Shahid Aftab.

Despite the defeats, both Haria and Gupta, along with two other Indians — Malkeet Singh and Hussian Khan — were given first-round byes in the second of the two-event first stage. They have to win two matches each if they harbour hopes of joining three-time champion Pankaj Advani and Brijesh Damani in the final stage of the competition.

Results (Indians unless mentioned): Pre-quarters: Thor Chuan Leong (Mas) bt Dhvaj Haria 4-3 (46-59, 69 (54) -26, 7-68, 59-69, 62-50, 58-13, 71 (62) -23); Shahid Aftab (Pak) bt Paras Gupta 4-2 (73-25, 27-94, 77 (72) -36, 58-76, 122 (62) -6, 60-49).