Malkeet, Hussain win in opening round of IBSF World Snooker C'ships

Doha, Nov 3 (PTI) India's Malkeet Singh and Hussain Khan started their campaign on a winning note on the opening day of the IBSF World Snooker Championships here 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 was bereft of big breaks, Malkeet kept Essa on a tight leash, and made the most of the chances that came his way en route to a lopsided victory.

Later in the day, 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. PTI SSC SSC AH AH