Malkeet Singh and Hussain Khan start IBSF World Snooker Championships with wins

Malkeet Singh and Hussain Khan made strong starts in the IBSF World Snooker Championships, winning their opening matches 4-0. Malkeet defeated Essa Al Qubaisi (Qatar), while Hussain triumphed over Shivan Mohammedali (Sweden) with a break of 61

Hyderabad: India’s Malkeet Singh and Hussain Khan began their campaign in fine fashion on the opening day of the IBSF World Snooker Championships in Qatar on Monday.

Malkeet, a former National champion in the shorter format of snooker (6-red), outplayed local pro Essa Al Qubaisi of Qatar 4-0 in the opening round of the first stage of the men’s competition.

---

Although the match lacked big breaks, Malkeet kept Essa on a tight leash and made the most of the chances that came his way, cruising to a comfortable victory.

A little later, Hussain scored a runaway 4-0 win over Shivan Mohammedali of Sweden. The highlight of the promising Indian’s win was a fine break of 61 in the fourth frame.

Paras Gupta and Dhvaj Haria are the other two Indians in the fray in the first stage. While Gupta got a bye in the first round, Haria was slated to take on Qatar’s Badr Abdulla Sharshani later in the evening.

Results (Indians unless specified):
1st round:

Malkeet Singh beat Essa Al Qubaisi (Qat) 4-0 (69-26, 75-15, 57-33, 59-21)

Hussain Khan beat Shivan Mohammedali (Swe) 4-0 (59-33, 79-33, 65-45, 68 (61) -25)