Haria, Gupta lose in pre-quarters of IBSF World Snooker C'ships

Doha, Nov 5 (PTI) 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 here.

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

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. PTI SSC SSC PDS PDS